In this week’s episode I sat down with Sofiya Cheyenne. Sofiya is an actor, teaching artist, community organizer and disability advocate. The theme of this episode is understanding what it means to be a little person along with this fear of understanding what it means to be a little person that exists in Hollywood, the pharmaceutical industries, within our own little person community and much, much more.

Follow Sofiya: Instagram: @sofiyacheyenne Youtube: @Sofiya Cheyenne Facebook: Sofiya Cheyenne Website: https://www.sofiyacheyenne.com

Listen to Dwarfism History:

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

Instagram: @dwarfismhistory

Website: https://www.dwarfismhistory.com/about

Follow Aubrey Smalls: Instagram: @aubreysmalls TikTok: @aubreysmalls 

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Sam Graham. Sam is a clinical psychologist working on her doctorate currently, she has a masters in clinical mental health. She has started a series discussing the sociology of dwarfism and the mental health impacts. M.A. LMHC MHP. She is also someone I have been friends with for 15 years. With tomorrow, October 10, being World Mental Health Day we have a raw, honest, and open conversation about what it is really like to be a little person in an average-height world focusing on the impact it has on our mental health.

TRIGGER WARNING: In this episode we discuss depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, body image and disordered eating. If these are triggers for you please feel free to skip this episode.

Listen To Cerebro Therapy: Small Talk:

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Apple Podcasts

Follow Sam: Instagram: @sa5m_instagraham

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Eileen Norman. Eileen is the current President of Little People of America. We discuss what LPA exists for, the evolution of LPA’s disability identity, the change that can happen when different disability organizations come together, what Dwarfism Awareness Month really means and much more.

Follow Eileen: @eileenannsf Facebook: Eileen Norman Email: [email protected]

Follow Little People of America: Facebook: Little People of America Instagram: @littlepeopleofamerica Website: https://www.lpaonline.org Email: [email protected]   

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode of Always Looking Up I sat down with Danielle Frank. Danielle is an academic advisor and student disability services coordinator at Peirce College and is currently serving as Little People of America’s Programs Director. We unpack some of the internatlized ableism that comes with being a person with dwarfism, discuss how the experience with being a dwarf, with being disabled, is unique to the individual, the importance in making sure that Little People of America is accessible and what that really means, where we see LPA at present and in the future and much, much more.

Follow Danielle: Instagram: @daniellestar LinkedIn: Danielle Frank Email: [email protected]  

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode of Always Looking Up I welcomed back Lillie Heigl. Lillie is an education policy analyst working for New America – Education Policy Program, focusing on disability, at New America. She is also one of my best friends with whom I share the love of reading. We discuss examples of disability representation, specifically in works written by Sarah J. Maas and Jodi Picoult, compare and contrast the portrayal of disability in contemporary fiction vs. fantasy, the impact disability representation in literature has in the real world and much, much more. This is the first of many spoiler alerts ahead.

Follow Lillie: Instagram: @lheigl LinkedIn: Lillie Heigl

Follow New America: Twitter: @NewAmerica LinkedIn: New America Website: https://www.newamerica.org  

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Ryan Haddad. Ryan is an actor and playwright. His autobiographical plays include Dark Disabled Stories, Hi, Are You Single?, Good Time Charlie, and Hold Me in the Water. Ryan received the Drama Desk’s 2023 Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award, Vineyard Theatre’s 2021 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, and a 2020 Disability Futures Fellowship. We discuss how Dark, Disabled, Stories came to life on stage, the impact in seeing disabled people tell their own stories, the power in creating a theatrical experience that is accessible for the audience and actors, the lack of accessible bathrooms on Broadway and much, much more.

Follow Ryan: @ryanjhaddad Twitter/X: @RyanJHaddad Website: http://www.ryanjhaddad.com

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Twitter: @jillx3456 Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin

In this week’s episode I sat down with Chamiah Dewey. Chamiah is a UK-based fashion designer and founder of the label Chamiah Dewey Fashion, the UK’s first-ever clothing brand dedicated to catering to the fashion needs of individuals under 4’11”. As New York Fashion Week is just around the corner we discuss what motivated her to design clothing for little people, how she is expanding her brand to include all people of short stature, not just those in dwarfism, how the conversation around adaptive fashion often does not include people with dwarfism and how that needs to change and much, much more.

Follow Chamiah: Instagram: @chamiahdeweyfashion Facebook: Chamiah Dewey Fashion Website: https://chamiahdeweyfashion.com 

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Twitter: @jillx3456 Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin

In this week’s episode I sat down with Rachel Charlton-Dailey. Rachel is an award-winning disabled editor, journalist, and activist. She is a disability rights columnist for The Daily Mirror where she guest edited the series Disabled Britain: Doing it for Ourselves and is the  founding editor of The Unwritten, a publication for disabled people to share their authentic experiences. We discuss why disabled people are often not listened to when it comes to their own bodies and lived experiences, ableism in the news media, the importance and power of having disabled voices in newsrooms and much, much more.

Read Rachel's Column in The Mirror: https://www.mirror.co.uk/authors/Rachel_Charlton-Dailey/ 

Follow Rachel: Instagram: @rachelcdailey Twitter: @RachelCDailey Website: https://rachelcharltondailey.com 

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Twitter: @jillx3456 Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin

In this week’s episode I welcomed back Aubrey Smalls. Aubrey is an actor and filmmaker with dwarfism. We discuss the importance in learning and understanding dwarfism history, how the representation of dwarfism in media influences and perpetuates society’s treatment of people with dwarfism in the real world, question how the non-disabled and disabled communities see people with dwarfism, his upcoming documentary Dear Average Height People and much, much more.

Listen To Dwarfism History

Spotify

Apple Podcasts 

Follow Aubrey: Instagram: @theaubreysmalls , @dwarfismhistory TikTok: @aubreysmalls Website: https://www.dearaverageheightpeople.com

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I welcomed back Jenna Bainbridge. Jenna is an actor, singer, and disability rights activist. She is the co-founder of ConsultAbility, a consulting firm that provides advice and expertise on accessibility in theatre, focusing on creating a safe and inclusive environment for disabled actors and technicians. We discuss the disability representation in the Barbie movie (or lack thereof), yes, there may be spoilers, how the treatment of disability in the film and the Barbie properties as a whole reflects how society treats and thinks about disability in the real world, the role wheelchair Barbie could have and should have played in the film, and much more. 

Follow Jenna: Instagram: @bainbridgejenna TikTok @bainbridgejenna Website: https://www.jennabainbridge.com/home

Follow ConsultAbility: Instagram: @consultability Facebook: ConsultAbility Website: https://www.consultability.org

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Twitter: @jillx3456 Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin