Much of the already small disability representation in the media focuses on white people, and often men. This includes Artie Abrams from the TV show Glee, Jack Hodgins from the TV show Bones, and Jake Sully from the film Avatar. Although we would never know it from TV and movies, the CDC reports that 19.67% of people of color have a disability compared with 20% of white people.
In many spaces, people with disabilities aren’t welcome regardless of race, often unintentionally. Even Ali Stroker, a white woman and the first person in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award in 2019, had to wait backstage because the venue for the ceremony wasn’t built to accommodate someone in a wheelchair getting to the stage. Mia Ives-Rublee is a transracial adoptee and the founder and coordinator for the Women’s March Disability Caucus, through which she helped coordinate services for over 40,000 people with disabilities. She has also worked with the Science March, Climate March, and March for Education to make them more accessible to all.
This episode was produced by Julián Esteban Torres López, Aïcha Martine Thiam, and Nicole Zelniker.
The Nasiona Podcast shares stories that explore the spectrum of human experience and glimpse into foreign worlds. We focus on stories based on facts, truth-seeking, human concerns, real events, and real people, with a personal touch. From liminal lives to the marginalized, and everything in between, we believe that the subjective can offer its own reality and reveal truths some facts can’t discover. Hosted, edited, and produced by Julián Esteban Torres López.
Our theme song is “Into the West,” courtesy of Tan Vampires.
You can also find our podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio, and Stitcher.
Hosts
Julián Esteban Torres López is a Colombian-born journalist, publisher, podcaster, and editor. Before founding the nonfiction storytelling organization The Nasiona, he ran several cultural and arts organizations, edited journals and books, was a social justice and public history researcher, wrote a column for Colombia Reports, taught university courses, and managed a history museum. He’s a Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fictions nominee and has written two books on social justice. Torres López holds a bachelor’s in philosophy and in communication and a master’s in justice studies from University of New Hampshire and was a Ph.D. candidate at University of British Columbia Okanagan, where he focused on political science and Latin American studies.
Twitter: je_torres_lopez
Aïcha Martine Thiam is a trilingual writer, musician, and artist who goes where the waves take her, and an Assistant Editor at Reckoning Press. She will quote obscure film facts at you, unprovoked. Her collection of poems, “AT SEA” was shortlisted for the 2019 Kingdoms in the Wild Poetry Prize. Some words found or forthcoming in: Berfrois, The Rumpus, Bright Wall/Dark Room, Metaphorosis, South Broadway Ghost Society, RIC Journal, Lamplight, TERSE. Journal, Gone Lawn, Truancy Mag, Crack the Spine, Confessionalist Zine, Ghost City Review, Rogue Agent, Boston Accent Lit, Déraciné.
Twitter: @Maelllstrom
Interviewer
NICOLE ZELNIKER is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and an editorial researcher with The Conversation US. Her work has appeared on The Pulitzer Prizes website and in USAToday and Yes! Weekly, among other places. A creative writer as well as a journalist, Nicole has had several pieces of poetry published including “Cracks in the Sidewalk” (Quail Bell Magazine) and “Surge” (The Greenleaf Review), as well as three short stories, “Last Dance” (The Hungry Chimera), “Dress Rehearsal” (littledeathlit), and “Lucky” (Fixional). Zelniker’s book, Mixed, is a work of non-fiction about race and mixed-race families.
Guest
Civil Rights activist Mia Ives-Rublee is a transracial adoptee and the founder and coordinator for the Women’s March Disability Caucus, through which she helped coordinate services for over 40,000 people with disabilities. She has also worked with the Science March, Climate March, and March for Education to make them more accessible to all. Mia has her Master’s Degree in social work. She has given several speeches, including at the National ADAPT Fun Run and New York Tax March.
