Embrace It with Lainie & Estela - Smashing Disability Stigmas

Send us Fan Mail At only 3 years old, Taylor was diagnosed with a rare vaginal cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma. Doctors didn't expect her to survive. After chemotherapy, radiation, and several surgeries, Taylor was cancer-free but left with two permanent ostomy bags — colostomy and urostomy, which aid her bladder and bowel functions — for the rest of her life. Growing up with ostomy bags in Ba...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine falling from a three-story window during your second week of college and transforming overnight from an athletic teen to a full-time wheelchair user. What sounds like a nightmare to many was Billy Price’s real and sudden introduction into the disability community. Join us for this mind-blowing episode and interview with aeronautical engineer turned inclusive shoe designer...

Send us Fan Mail What’s it like to slowly lose your eyesight and adapt to the world around you? How do the roles and characters we grow up watching on TV play into society's harmful stigmas around disability? Lance Johnson shares this and much more as we discuss his journey with Retinitis Pigmentosa and life as a video editor, podcaster, and content creator in Brooklyn, New York. Follow Lance...

Send us Fan Mail Alycia Anderson is a TEDx motivational speaker, corporate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility consultant, advocate, and the founder & CEO of The Alycia Anderson Company, LLC. With a Master’s Degree in Adapted Physical Activity. Alycia’s authenticity and charisma draw others to learn how to disable ableism across a wide spectrum of areas. In this rich and fun episo...

Send us Fan Mail Kathy Reagan Young, who lives with MS, is leading the disability and chronically ill community into “chronicpreneurship” by turning their lived experiences into income. In September of 2021, she launched Patients Getting Paid, a membership community offering support and training to people in finding and creating flexible, remote work that not only accommodates their health, but ge...

Send us Fan Mail All too often the conversation around disability is focused on the things it takes away—the experiences and activities it excludes us from. In this one-on-one episode, Lainie & Estela break down their top 10 gifts of disability and how each has impacted their life for the better. Join us for this insightful and uplifting conversation aimed to amplify appreciation for your own...

Send us Fan Mail Navigating teenage years can be difficult, especially when you are suddenly diagnosed with a weird-sounding debilitating disease like Charcot-Marie-Tooth. As a 13-year-old Pakistani kid living in the UK, Zac was forced to confront daunting medical predictions, social pressures, harmful stigmas, and his own internal battles. Join us as we hear how Zac pulled himself out of multiple...

Send us Fan Mail Raised alongside her able-bodied twin and 4 other siblings, Dr. Gabrielle Ficchi shares her powerful story from growing up as a child with Cerebral Palsy to becoming a proud disabled therapist. In this special Mother’s Day episode, Dr. Ficchi shares her deep expertise on how certain parenting styles can help empower children with disabilities. Get out your notepads as we explore w...

Send us Fan Mail Dayniah is a Jamaican immigrant, mother, educator, writer, and activist living with SMA.   As a tenured English teacher with over 15 years of teaching experience in New York City public schools, Dayniah uses an electric wheelchair and has been unable to use a restroom at her middle school building in the Bronx for the past 14 years due to the New York City Department of Education...

Send us Fan Mail As an Iraq war veteran, Purple Heart recipient, TEDx speaker, writer, and teacher Casey Jourdan is passionate about helping others shift from surviving to thriving.  Casey was a gunner in an Army convoy traveling Baghdad's "suicide ally" when a roadside explosive device rocked her world. The explosion changed her identity forever, transforming her from being an entr...

Send us Fan Mail At 34 years old, Katina found herself hitting rock bottom after a 17 year battle with anorexia & bulimia. After reaching out for help and enrolling in Overeaters Anonymous, she began learning how to eat healthily and reversing years of physical and emotional damage.  Today, Katina is a certified nutritionist & Reiki practitioner helping hundreds of people love their guts a...

Send us Fan Mail We all want to feel safe and seen at our jobs, but how do we build inclusive cultures that reflect the full spectrum of humanity? Arthur Woods & Susanna Tharakan deliver an insightful and practical roadmap in their groundbreaking new book, Hiring for Diversity. Join us as we dive deeper into the current challenges facing the disability community and the steps needed to create...

Send us Fan Mail What can houseplants teach us about processing trauma & disability? Apparently, a whole lot! Tovah Fine is an artist and disability advocate living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth and a knack for turning empty spaces into fern-tastic havens for healing. Join us as we turn over a new leaf and reexamine mobility aids, progression, therapy, and shame. Follow Tovah on IG Visit Friendly S...

Send us Fan Mail "Height is just a number, not a limit." These are the words Jillian Curwin lives by as she navigates the world as a little person with dwarfism. Diagnosed with Achondroplasia at birth, Jillian shares her empowering journey growing up in a world not built to her size and how her advocacy work is breaking barriers on the fashion editorial pages of Vogue Italia & Harper...

Send us Fan Mail As a lifelong advocate, Hope Hoffman has been writing bills towards inclusion since high school and has gone head-to-head with discriminatory employers. In this candid episode, Hope shares her personal journey growing up with Spina Bifida and the recent amputation of her foot. Don't miss this insightful discussion as we break down the root causes and impact of ableism and div...

Send us Fan Mail Catarina is the daughter of Cuban & Puerto Rican parents and grew up wearing hearing aids from a young age. Just before starting college at the age of 17, she began losing her vision and started a whole new journey as a disabled adult navigating the world on her own. Now she helps others do the same while smashing stigmas and educating individuals and companies about DEI (Disa...

Send us Fan Mail At the age of 5, Paula Carozzo experienced brain damage during surgery, resulting in Cerebral Palsy.  Soon after, her family moved to the US to seek better care and raise their disabled daughter in the best way they knew how.  The rest is an empowering and motivating story of Paula's rise to becoming a powerful Disability Advocate, Stylish Brand Ambassador, Model, and Stigma-...

Send us Fan Mail What are our disability rights at work, school & society in general? What happens when a loved one or we require accommodations? What are we entitled to ask for? What do we do if we think we are being discriminated against?  When it comes to disability, learning our rights can seem like a daunting and intimidating endeavor. Thankfully, there are passionate and empathetic Disab...

Send us Fan Mail How does someone face disability and loss early in life while still remaining a daring dreamer with a flair for all things vintage? Daffny Laurito, AKA the Vintage Nerd, gets vulnerable, nostalgic, and real with her empowering journey from an anxious catholic school girl to a bold and stylish disability advocate.  Hear Daffny's best practices for glamming up our inner dialogu...

Send us Fan Mail How do we get a better grip on life with a chronic illness that affects our hands? Join us with guest and occupational therapist, Cheryl Crow of Arthritis Life.  We're talking life hacks, gadgets, motherhood, and why rheumatoid arthritis is not your grandma's arthritis ! Visit: Arthritis Life Check out: UnBuckleme Looking for more great tips, hacks and blogposts? Visit:...

Send us Fan Mail Mindy Scheier's journey began when her son Oliver, who has a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy, wanted to wear jeans to school like his friends, but couldn’t manage the buttons or zippers. She realized then that millions of people around the world must also be struggling to access fashionable clothing that meets their needs. She began to envision a world where all styles of clo...

Send us Fan Mail Thought distortions (also called cognitive distortions) are negative thoughts that are exaggerated, irrational, skewed, and/or distorted. All of us have them at times and they manifest from our unconscious perceptions & deep seated beliefs. But our thoughts are not facts. We can choose to challenge them & to ultimately change them. But first we have to know what they are....

Send us Fan Mail Maura's inspiration for MagnaReady® came one day when she closed her magnetic iPad case, and heard the metal magnet click. If a shirt could open and close the same way, then maybe people living with disabilities, like her husband, could dress themselves independently.   Join us for a heartfelt conversation with Maura as she shares her personal journey of taking her adaptive i...

Send us Fan Mail At 20 years-old, Peruvian born Marcela Marañon survived a fatal car accident that killed her boyfriend and left her with a lower leg amputated.  Now she travels the world alone bringing awareness to accessibility, cutting-edge mobility devices and inclusive fashion! Follow Marcela on IG @thejourneyofabravewoman Learn more & shop Marcela's website Looking for more great ti...

Send us Fan Mail Marisa Hamamoto is a stroke survivor, inclusion keynote speaker & performer, and Founder of Infinite Flow , a nonprofit and professional dance company composed of dancers with and without disabilities using dance to inspire inclusion and innovation.  Her jaw dropping dance performances have gone viral and have been seen on the Today Show, GMA, PBS, Now This, Upworthy, ABC7 and...