Demystifying Disability with Emily Ladau.

In Episode 71 Emily Ladau is a passionate disability rights activist, writer, storyteller, and digital communications consultant whose career began at the age of 10 when she appeared on several episodes of Sesame Street to educate children about her life with a physical disability. Her writing has been published in outlets including The New York Times, SELF, Salon, Vice, and HuffPost.
Her first book, Demystifying Disability, was published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in September 2021.
Emily has spoken before numerous audiences, from the U.S. Department of Education to the United Nations. Central to all of her work is a focus on and harnessing the power of storytelling as a tool for people to become engaged in disability and social justice issues.
Timeline of the podcast:
00:10 - 01:24 Intro
01:25 - 03:00 Emily Ladau’s background
03:05 - 05:02 Emily’s definition of disability and concept of ableism
05:03 - 08:00 Language of Disability
08:01 - 10:17 Language of Disability
10:25 - 13:40 Intersectionality as it relates to disability discussion
13:45 - 15:12 Role of parents
15:15 - 16:30 What is infantilization?
16:35 -17:37 Current concerns in the community?
17:40 -18:35 Closing Remarks
Emily’s call to action: “Disability is not negative or shameful and allyship is action.
This podcast was produced by Marsh Naidoo, Makendra Ezell, and Tanya Sierra.