Disability Happy Hour

Paraclimbing! Wheelchair basketball! MURDERBALL? Oh My!

Paraclimbing national champion and BORP Adaptive Sports CEO Emily Seelenfreund joins Phoebe to reflect on their adaptive approaches to rock climbing. Andrew asks some sutmblingly naive questions about paraclimbing and wheelchairs. Our conversation sprawled into some other great topics we couldn't fit into this episode (namely WICKED and media representations of wheelchair users), so you'll hear more from Emily soon!

Drinks we drank:

Things we mentioned:

Disability Happy Hour is independently produced by Andrew Barkan, Will Barkan, and Phoebe Barkan. Our music & mix is by Andrew & Polly in sunny Santa Monica, CA. You can find our socials @disabilityhappyhour and reach us at [email protected] - thanks for listening!

"Blindness is just another style of living."

Paraphrasing Borges, Pulitzer Prize finalist Andrew Leland joins Andrew, Will & Phoebe for a round of meandering discourse on writing and disability. We wind down myriad alleyways of his 2023 memoir "The Country of the Blind", ponder the progress and shortcomings of media representation, and generally delight in all things literary and absurd.

Things we drank:

Things we talked about:

Disability Happy Hour is produced independently by Andrew Barkan, Will Barkan, and Phoebe Barkan. Our music is by Andrew & Polly, and all editing, mixing and mastering was done by Andrew Barkan in sunny Santa Monica, CA. Find us @disabilityhappyhour or email [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

Recording artist, advocate and CEO Lachi joins Andrew, Will & Phoebe to wax poetic on the journey of becoming cane users, the evolution of the cane as a tool and a symbol for blind people, and the present and future of disability pride, style and fashion.

Things we talked about:

And be on the lookout for Lachi's upcoming 2025 album "Mad Different" wherever you get your music.

Thanks for listening! You reach us at [email protected] or find out more on Instagram. To help spread the word, please rate & review this podcast, and recommend it to a friend!

Does work speak for itself?

October was Disability Employment Awareness Month and Blindness Awareness Month. Andrew, Will & Phoebe get busy reflecting on their experience in the job market, self-employment vs corporate work as a disabled person, the A.D.A. and hiring laws, and the values people with disabilities can bring to the workplace.

Future guests Lachi (RAMPD, Glam Canes) and Emily Seelenfreund (BORP Adaptive Sports) are featured in a little audio montage about imagined and actual work.

Things we drank:

Things we talked about:

You can find Andrew's music at Andrew & Polly and Phoebe's Bay Area garden designs at Plant Stars. (Will's work remains hidden in a shroud of bureaucracy.) You can reach us on Instagram or at [email protected] - if you're able, please give us a follow and drop us a review to spread the word about this conversation - and thanks for listening!

Welcome to the very first Disability Happy Hour! Blind siblings Andrew, Will & Phoebe get excited about Will's upcoming nuptials and wax poetic on various ideas about disability and weddings.

Drinks drunk:

Various & sundry topics include:

Please -- help us find our audience!:

And -- help us build our content! We've got some great guests lined up for November, but we'd love to hear your ideas about new topics and people we should bring on. We're starting with blindness, but there's a vast world of different experiences to learn about. What aspect of disability are you interested in? Let us know on social media or at [email protected]

See ya, suckas!

Introducing Disability Happy Hour, a new podcast about the real lives of disabled people drinking real beverages. We (Andrew, Will and Phoebe) are 3 blind siblings who admittedly have little expertise in the world of disability beyond our own lived experience. Have a round with us, and let's see if we can't figure this whole disability thing out together?