Always Looking Up

In this week’s episode I sat down with Syanne Centeno-Bloom. Syanne is a prominent civil/disability rights activist, content creator and signed model. She has worked with brands like Dove, Thistle and Spire and Victoria’s Secret and also currently serves as a council member for Courage for America, confronting extremist ideologies by far-right lawmakers head-on. We discuss diversity and trends in...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Alex Barone. Alex is an actor who can be seen in The Luckiest Girl Alive , Dopesick , as well as the fifth season of Mayans M.C. where he played the character of Bottles. Alex is also an advocate for performers with disabilities and is a mentor to children with limb differences. We discuss wanting to see disabled characters that are sexy and have grit, disabi...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Joshua Castille and Caden Zane Marshall. Joshua is a Deaf performance artist who strives to form meaningful collaborations that explore the boundaries of art. He has worked on various projects in different roles including ASL master, director, actor, set designer, and more. Caden is a seasoned performer, American Sign Language interpreter, and influencer. Cad...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Madison Tevlin. Madison is an award-winning model, host, content creator, actor and advocate. She shatters the expectations people have about Down syndrome, reminding everyone that it is the least interesting thing about her. We discuss the powerful “Assume That I Can” video and the impact of authentic storytelling, how fun it is to defy expectations when we...

In this special episode I sat down with Madison Ferris, Danny Gomez, and Laura Winters to talk about the play All of Me, opening Off-Broadway The Pershing Square Signature Center here in New York City on May 14, 2024. All of Me, written by Laura and starring Madison and Danny is a boldly humorous and candid love story exploring class and disability in America today. Let’s get into it. All About Al...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Dustin Giannelli. Dustin Giannelli is the CEO & Founder of HearsDustin LLC and a DEI and Accessibility focused public speaker and consultant. He shares his lived experiences as someone who is profoundly deaf and has worn hearing aids since the age of 5 as a way to highlight DEI best practices and the importance of accessibility and communication. We discuss t...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Judge Soonhee “Sunny” Bailey. Judge Bailey sits on Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court . In 2018 she created the Detention Alternative for Autistic Youth (DAAY) Court , a diversionary court that focuses on providing services aimed to help youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) remain out of the criminal justice system. We discuss how the DAAY court wor...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Medusa. Medusa is a non-binary revenge-pop artist based in New York. They aim to transform stories of queer joy and agony into song “by any means necessary,” and credit their visceral production style to the somatic-emotional crossover specific to autism. We discuss having to mask parts of who we are depending on the situation, the experience of having our id...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Lachi. Lachi is a globally touring singer and songwriter, award winning social entrepreneur, GRAMMYs Chapter Board Governor, founder of the UN-recognized organization RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), and host of PBS’ American Masters series ‘Renegades’. Born legally blind, Lachi uses her platform in music, storytelling and...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Isabel Mavrides-Calderón. Isabel is a disability justice activist and organizer. Her work focuses on advocating for policy change, accessibility, and anti-ableism. She has hosted numerous campaigns and protests for disability rights bills with the ACLU, Patients Rising and the Center for Disability Rights and, in 2022, she was celebrated as one of Teen Vogue’...

To start I would like to issue a trigger warning. In this conversation we do discuss harassment, assault, and trauma. If these are triggers for you, please feel free to skip this episode. In this week’s episode I sat down with Colin Buckingham. Colin Buckingham is a Writer, Actor, Model, and Producer based in Brooklyn, NY. His goal as a storyteller is to make projects that reflect the intersection...

In this special episode I sat down with Emily Ladau. Emily is a disability rights activist, storyteller, digital communications consultant, author of the book Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally and editor of Able News at The Viscardi Center, a monthly print periodical and digital news outlet that serves as a resource for and amplifies the perspectives of New...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Amanda Leduc. Amanda is a disabled writer and author of the non-fiction book Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space and the novel The Centaur’s Wife . She is also an essayist and public speaker where she talks about accessibility and the role of disability in storytelling. We discuss the aspects of disability that are often ignored by those...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Alycia Anderson. Alycia is a TEDx motivational speaker, corporate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility consultant, advocate, founder & CEO of The Alycia Anderson Company, and host of the podcast Pushing Forward with Alycia. We discuss making the decision to either lead or follow, disability inclusion in DEI efforts, daring to be bold and asking for wh...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Hannah Bonam-Young. Hannah is a writer of romance novels including Next of Kin, Next to You, and Out On A Limb that feature a cast of diverse, disabled, marginalized, and LGBTQIA+ folks in romantic storylines that blend with the beautiful, messy, and challenging realities of life. We discuss how she got into writing, why she wanted to write romance, the need...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Emma Vogelmann. Emma, also known as The Wheelchair Activist, is a disability activist based in the UK. She is the Policy, Public Affairs and Research Manager at Transport for All and host of The Wheelchair Activist Podcast. We discuss the differences in the US vs the UK in regards to disability representation, some of the impossible beauty standards that exis...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Matthew August Jeffers. Matthew is an actor of stage and screen, having appeared on shows such as New Amsterdam, FBI, and The Blacklist and can currently be seen portraying Nat on the AMC show The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live and is about to be making his Broadway debut in the play An Enemy Of The People. We discuss the dance between recognizing limitation...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Dom Kelly. Dom is the Co-Founder, President & CEO of New Disabled South, a non-profit working to achieve liberation and justice for disabled people in the South. and New Disabled South Rising, its advocacy arm. Prior to that he served as both the Georgia Fundraising Director and the Senior Advisor for Disability for Stacey Abrams’ campaign for governor of Geo...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Shelby Holloway. Shelby, in addition to being one of my best friends, is a content creator on TikTok and an advocate for dwarfism awareness. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner we have a heart-to-heart about the realities of dating as a little person, dating as a disabled person, the importance of looking for a safe space to find those relationships,...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Rebecca Cokley. Rebecca is the program officer for the Ford Foundation’s first-ever U.S. Disability Rights program, which is focused on strengthening the field, building a pipeline of diverse leadership, promoting disability pride, and mobilizing resources toward disability rights work. Prior to joining the foundation Rebecca was the co-founder of the Disabil...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Amy Roloff. Amy is a reality TV star, appearing on the show Little People Big World, an a cookbook author and a motivational speaker. We discuss having to contextualize what it means to be a little person, the power of sport in the little person community, life through a camera lens and much, much more. Follow Amy: Instagram: @amyjroloff Website: https://amyr...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Bradley Rose. Bradley is a Peloton Instructor, and teaches cycling classes from Peloton Studios London, bringing his unique British charm and eternally optimistic attitude to every ride.  Prior to joining Peloton, Bradley spent the last ten years in the USA, working as an actor, appearing in both films and TV shows. After sharing his story we discuss how...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Professor Javier Robles. Professor Robles is a professor at Rutgers University in the Kinesiology and Health Department, is the Director of the Center for Disability Sports, Health and Wellness at Rutgers, and is the Chair of the New Jersey Disabilities Covid-19 Action Committee. We discuss the differences between equality vs. equity, the importance of disabi...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Caitlin Conner. Caitlin, in addition to being the founder and CEO of Be More Adaptive, a global disability database, is a mom, a model, an advocate, and an athlete. After sharing her beautifully impactful story we discuss what it means to be a T-Rex and a chameleon, the differences between adaptive and universal design, the ability to be strong with a disabil...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Violet aka hi its vi. Violet is a disability advocate, filmmaker, and content creator with almost 70 thousand followers on TikTok. Violet’s advocacy focuses on the representation of people with dwarfism in the media. In light of some recent at the time of recording comments made by actor Hugh Grant regarding the film Wonka we discuss how modern remakes of cla...