Who Am I To Stop It

Listen to this post: Cascadia’s annual Heart event illuminates the intersection of art and mental health with a focus on women. This annual event brings together a network of supporters, artists, and storytellers who are committed to reducing the stigma of mental health by supporting activities that promote health, healing, and hope. This year’s month-long […]

Listen to this post: February, 2021. I can’t tell if it feels like it was yesterday or a year ago. Did we stop quipping that it’s still March 370th, 2020 yet? But just last month, I had the great honor and fun to be part of the Millersville University Disability Film Festival. They screened “Who […]

Listen to this post (the podcast is at the bottom of the post): I really love re-airing pared down interviews from my early days of podcasting. This one was such a pleasure to listen to again after more than six years. I met my guest, Bittin, at a brain injury conference, in the before times, […]

Listen to this post: I’m beyond delighted to introduce you to another disabled-created and hosted podcast, AAC Town. AAC stands for alternative and augmentative communication, which they define in many ways across the episodes. But this isn’t just a technical podcast or a show only for people who already know they’re interested in learning about […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast is at the bottom of the post.] Sometimes I do these interviews, and it feels like they’re so set in the moment that they won’t hold up down the road. But then you find one, like this 2015 conversation with AJ Murray, and it turns out it’s evergreen after […]

Listen to this post: Phew! My own podcast has taken a backseat for me in the past few months, which is probably obvious based on the sudden lack of new content. I hope to return to producing new episodes this autumn or winter or sometime. I feel like we live in an endless today, with […]

Listen to this post: I’m so excited to be invited to be on a panel alongside some real powerhouses in filmmaking and film distribution, including several of my beloved colleagues from New Day Films! You’ve read it here many times before that I don’t like doing accessibility just to meet legal compliance, and I certainly […]

Listen to this post: This month, an encore broadcast of part of my 2016 interview with Leslie Gregory, a primary care provider and Portland-area leader in racial justice. She runs Right To Health, a non-profit that’s, “dedicated to addressing the unacceptable disparity in healthcare and outcomes in minority and uninsured communities.” We talked then about […]

Listen to this post: The curb cut effect describes what happens when a technology or design that’s for access for deaf and disabled people works so great that everyone can and wants to use it. Like curb cuts! It’s not like you have to walk around a curb cut if you’re not a wheelchair or […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast audio is at the bottom of the page.] Whether you identify with having a disability or impairment, a health condition, or are disabled, there are people wanting to collect your stories and document your process, your life, yours experiences in light of the pandemic. A lot of it is […]

Listen to this post: [Podcast audio is at the bottom of the page.] This isn’t how I ideally wanna share difficult and sad news. But, as death is inevitable, I feel value in discussing it. Over the weekend, Kathy Coleman, founder and Artistic Director of Disability Art and Culture Project died. To honor Kathy and […]

Listen to this post: Back in 2013, I made a short documentary film about my dear friend and colleague Lavaun Benavidez-Heaster called “Paper Visions.” It wasn’t formally audio described back then because I was so new to media and media accessibility. But Lavaun paved the way for me by actually audio describing parts of it as […]

Listen to this post: Thomas Reid’s podcast, Reid My Mind Radio, is one of my faves, so it’s my huge honor and pleasure to have him on my show. Please also check out the Disability Visibility Podcast episode 52 where Thomas and Prince Bri of Power Not Pity talked to Alice Wong about their work […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast audio is at the bottom of the page.] Even though I’ve gotten out of the business of publishing long-form interviews, nearly all of the stories on the podcast still come out of long interviews. Sometimes I ask someone for a single story with lots of detail and background. Sometimes […]

Listen to this post: I had the grand pleasure to interview Jess Thom over a year ago when she was in Portland to perform. If you’re not familiar with Jess’s work, pop over to TourettesHero.com to find pictures of Jess in her superhero costume. You can search the website for a catalogue of her Tourette’s […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast audio is at the bottom of the post.] Meet Brandon and Chutney. Well, if you’ve been here before, you’ve met Brandon, star of “Who Am I To Stop It” and “Stinky Chicken Dog 2.” But you have to spend some time with him when Chutney’s around: sniffing the microphone, […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast audio is at the bottom of the page.] This is a rebroadcast of a 2017 episode exploring the ableism behind deciding which voices are good enough to be on radio and which aren’t. Chenjerai Kumanyika wrote a beautiful manifesto about the effect of code-switching on him as he tried […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast audio is at the bottom of the page.] Today’s episode is a rebroadcast of an interview I did with Talila A. Lewis in 2017. Talila takes a critical, much-needed look at issues around ableism, audism, sanism, and racism in the carceral system. We only talked briefly about HEARD (Helping […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast is at the bottom of the post.] The Trauma Survivors Network community celebrates National Trauma Survivors Day on May 16th. One of the reasons this network got started was research that says it’s not how bad a traumatic injury is that tells you how difficult recovery will be. It’s […]

Listen to this post: Back in September, 2018, we had a housing justice and accessible housing panel at Independent Living Movie Night. This month’s podcast presents part of the panel discussion that happened after the film screenings. Why do I keep posting about this? Because even as we continue to take steps toward understanding and […]

Listen to this post: More exciting screening news! We’re really happy to be invited to the Pacific University campus to screen “Who Am I To Stop It” on March 4th. One thing that makes Pacific extra cool for us is that Brandon, one of the film’s stars, has been working for a few years at […]

Listen to this post: A story of culture, chronic illness, disability, love, and rye bread. Nancy Sanchez gives a glimpse into the many layers of ableism in her life, from being called a faker as a child to people saying that caring for her sick father later in life was making her too sick to […]

Listen to this post: A few years ago, my friend, Taylor, and I sat down to talk–and ultimately laugh–about what we might have in common as people with invisible disabilities that affect how we think and process and organize and emote. For today’s episode, I excerpted the highlights of our conversation that had been published […]

Listen to this post: This month’s episode is another documentary film in audio form including the Audio Description. In anticipation of the premiere of Jenni Funk’s “Stinky Chicken Dog 2” on December 15th, here is the original “Stinky Chicken Dog.” She didn’t add a “1” in the title because we didn’t expect to make more […]

Listen to this post: In 2010, Representative Sara Gelser wrote a guest column describing the history and horrors of Fairview Hospital and Training Center. Please note: her column contains graphic descriptions of abuse and quotations from Fairview survivors and staff. Representative Gelser’s column appears alongside photos of the site after it was closed, if you […]