Today, we hear from Emily Ladau, a disability rights activist, about how to break down barriers. Emily Ladau has Larsen syndrome, a rare genetic joint and muscle disorder. She is on a mission to make progress for disability rights by sharing her own story and helping others do the same on their own terms. She's won a number of awards for her activism, and her first book is Demystifying Disability:What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally.

This is episode 5 from a special segment for Women’s History Month about how we can build a more feminist future....and take care of ourselves and each other when the work is daunting. Find more trailblazers in our new book, It’s a Good Day to Change the World.

TRANSCRIPT:

Lauren Schiller: I’m Lauren Schiller, creator of Inflection Point and author of the new book IT’S A GOOD DAY TO CHANGE THE WORLD.

Every week, throughout women’s history month, we’re bringing you a special segment about how we can build a more feminist future....and take care of ourselves and each other along the way.

Today, we hear from Emily Ladau, a disability rights activist, about how to break down barriers...

Emily has Larsen syndrome, a rare genetic joint and muscle disorder she inherited from her mom, who has it too. She is on a mission to make progress for disability rights by sharing her own story and helping others do the same... on their own terms. She's won a number of awards for her activism, and her first book is Demystifying Disability:What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally.

Emily Ladau: I am very, very passionate about storytelling, not really just my own story, but finding ways to amplify as many stories as I possibly can.

I went to a summer camp for kids with disabilities. At the Camp , they got a phone call and they said, Hey, we're looking for kids to try out for a role on Sesame Street. Do you have anyone? So, I auditioned for the role and got the part.

Following my time on Sesame Street I would talk about my disability if I felt like the moment was right. But beyond that, the best thing you could possibly say to me was, oh, I forgot that you use a wheelchair, or, I don't think of you as disabled. I just wanted to hide this very apparent thing about myself.

It wasn't until college when I started to wake up to the fact that there was no reason for me to be trying to hide something. First of all, I couldn't , and second of all, I shouldn't have to hide.

Midway through college, I had what I call a quarter life crisis where I just completely cracked.

And I was like, I need to be a disability advocate. I don't know what that means, but I'm gonna do it. My parents, being the beautiful humans that they are, were like, we have no idea what you're saying. We don't know how you're gonna make money, but we love you. So go for it.

I'm just trying to do what I can in the hopes that we'll be less afraid of saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing, and we'll just be able to show up as we are and hopefully learn better, and then know better, and then do better.

Lauren Schiller: Here are some of Emily's tools to change the world:

Seek small wins

Emily Ladau: To combat ableism begins by taking a look around the environments that you're in, asking what you're doing to make them inclusive and accessible. Whether it is going to a shop that you frequent and saying, Hey, it would be so great if you could put a ramp in, or if you are planning an event, ensuring that there's gonna be captioning so everybody can understand what's being said. When we begin to make these small changes and create environments that are more meaningfully inclusive, we can start to dismantle how pervasive ableism really is.

Lauren Schiller: Destigmatize "Disabled"

Emily Ladau: I try to caution people against the use of euphemisms, like special needs or differently abled. That being said, if someone who has a disability chooses to use those terms for themselves, I respect that. What it comes down to is on the whole, not being afraid of the word disability, it's not a bad word, it's it's a word. It describes who I am. and the only reason we see it as dehumanizing is because we've attached that connotation to it, which means that we also have the power to remove that

Lauren Schiller: And FINALLY, HOW DO WE SUSTAIN OURSELVES WHEN THE WORK IS DAUNTING?

Emily Ladau: I used to keep a very odd sleep schedule and I would always be waking up later and then rushing to all of my meetings for the day. And I finally realized if I can just wake up at the same time every single morning, give myself some time in the morning to eat something, to exercise, to move my body in a way that feels good to start my day by putting myself first, that [00:05:00] that would really make a difference in the tone of my day. I know I sound like some kind of women's health magazine or something. I don't mean to, I'm not one of those people, but it really has made a difference for me.

Lauren Schiller: Find more of Emily Ladau's story, along with more trailblazers and their tools, IN OUR NEW BOOK — IT’S A GOOD DAY TO CHANGE THE WORLD — based on INFLECTION POINT INTERVIEWS. You can find it wherever you get your books. Learn more ABOUT THE BOOK AT inflectionpointradio.org.

This series was produced in collaboration with K A L W. Our executive producer is David Boyer. Our impact producer and my co-author is Hadley Dynak.

I'm Lauren Schiller.