S1E10: Accommodations Help Everyone! With Guest Nicki Vander Meulen

Diverse Joy

In this Disability Awareness Month episode, we invite back lawyer Nicki Vander Meulen to talk about the history of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), especially how other movements, including the Black civil rights movement and the gay rights movement, cooperated to bring about the ADA. Nicki's joy this episode is the Marvel character Rocket Raccoon, who many see as an icon for inclusion, especially among the disability community. Amber's joy is that March is also "Disney Bounding Month", when she dresses up daily as various Disney characters, to the delight of all who know her! Will's joy is his annual tradition of throwing big theme parties for all his friends! We discuss the many protests and sit-ins related to the disability rights movement, including the 504 sit-in and the Capitol crawl, both of which succeeded in part due to solidarity and support from other rights movements. Throughout this discussion, we touch on many issues around disability and accommodations, especially highlighting how accommodations help everyone, not just people with disabilities. Nicki shares several stories related to obstacles she's faced as an autistic person with cerebral palsy, teaching us some ways people fall short in their interactions with people with disabilities, but also giving us guidance on how to do things better! This episode's question centers on why disability is not "just" a feature of people's medical conditions, but of obstacles created by a world that often overlooks differences in ability. Today's habit-breaking skill is learning to catch Untested Assumptions, which, when unchecked, serve to perpetuate biases in our minds. Nicki's joyful recommendation is the amazing "Guardians of the Galaxy" series of movies.