Finding Avalon: Amplifying Disabled Voices

Navigating Adaptability in Disabled Pet Care with Feline Diabetes Ambassador Adonis Sugar Kitty and mom Roxy Velez

In this episode, Roxy Velez shares her journey with her diabetic cat, Adonis, and how their family navigates the challenges of feline diabetes.

She discusses the importance of commitment and personal adaptability, as well as the emotional impact of managing a diabetic cat's health. Roxy also highlights the empowering value of community support, the role of social media in raising awareness, and what she does to help other families managing feline diabetes.

She emphasizes the need for empathy and understanding in caring for diabetic pets and how Adonis has become an ambassador for both feline and human diabetes awareness.

Roxy also offers practical advice for new pet owners and reflects on the balance between her online presence and personal life. Adonis even chimes in at the end!

Disabled Nurse & Service Dog: A Dynamic Duo Breaking Barriers with Chloe Hammond and Ocho

In this episode of Finding Avalon, host Jenna Barnable speaks with Chloe Hammond, a pioneering disabled nurse and disability advocate from the UK. Chloe shares her complex disability journey, including her diagnoses and the challenges she faced in accepting her identity.

She discusses the vital role of her assistance dog, Ocho, in her life and work, and the impact of ableism on her experiences. Chloe also highlights her advocacy efforts to promote visibility and empowerment for disabled professionals, her recent achievements, and her aspirations for the future,including an exciting opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall.

Above all, Chloe believes in the importance of being true to oneself and embracing one's full identity.

Canada's Opioid Poisoning Crisis: See the Person,Stop the Stigma with Kathryn Dunmore

"Addiction is a fatal disease. We need to talk about it and livewith empathy." – Kathryn Dunmore, advocate for addiction awareness.

In this episode of Finding Avalon, host Jenna Barnable speaks with ally Kathryn Dunmore about her personal journey through the opioid crisis, the stigma surrounding addiction, and the importance of empathy and community support forrecovery from substance use disorder.

Kathryn shares about navigating grief following the loss of her sister Samantha whose chronic pain disability led to opioid addiction. She talks about her commitment to raising awareness about Canada’s opioid crisis, with itsundeniable links to lack of societal support due to ableism and its connection to the current homelessness epidemic.
This episode's conversation emphasizes the need for compassion, education, and understanding in addressing substance use disorders, chronic pain disability, the prescription of opioids, and the impact a resulting addiction can have on individuals and families.

"Making Room for Mental Health at Dragonfly HavenTherapeutic Farm"Charlotte Paul is an Indigenous woman from Glooscap First Nation in Nova Scotia, Canada. In this episode, she shares her personal experiences with mental health disability and the innovative ways she manages her wellness, including opening a therapeutic, sensory friendly farm, Dragonfly Haven to offer healing and peace to her community.

Charlotte's story is an impressive one - and she overcame her fear of public speaking to be a guest on the podcast. Wela'lin Charlotte! ("Thank you" in Mi'kmaq)

Spiritual Awakening or Neurodivergent Self-Discovery? Not a coincidence, says Jenniva, a first-generation Jamaican American intuitive guide, content creator, and spiritual entrepreneur.

Jenniva’s built a large TikTok following and a vibrant community committed to self-discovery, spiritualawakening, authenticity and healing – especially powerful for late-discovered neurodivergent people like herself.

Find out for yourself the kind of wisdom and refreshing real talk that a conversations with Jenniva has in store!

Jenna is joined by Ashley King, a visually-impaired actor, playwright and accessibility consultant.

We’ll learn about Ashley's awareness raising efforts around methanol poisoning, accessibility in the arts, and her sensational autobiographical play, Static: A Party Girl’s Memoir.

Be sure to check out her podcast of the same name here on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Award-winning Canadian artist and podcaster Kristen Herrington talks tinnitus, hearing loss, building an innovative, accessible and sensory-friendly community gallery in rural Nova Scotia.

Listen as Jenna and Kristen connect as kindred spirits as creative East Coast women living with invisible disabilities, exploring advocacy issues with sincerity, punctuated by bursts of levity.

Check out the Mike & Kristen Podcast!

Dietician and doctor-in-training Fernand Vedrenne joins us from Mexico City to discuss fatphobia in healthcare and other ableist and sexist barriers to patient care

He discusses his experience navigating med school with ADHD, and shares his approach to dignified patient care and communication.

This episode is especially enlightening as Fernand is a person living with disability while advocating for patients with disabilities, with one foot in both worlds.

Canadian musician and activist Naomi Kavka shares her journey with disability, how music helps her process, express and connect through her experiences with mental health, chronic pain, neurodivergence and alcoholism.

She vulnerably shares her experiences with generational trauma, including supporting family members with disabilities and chronic illness.

Naomi also talks frankly about barriers to support and care as a woman with disabilities and how she discovered the powerful revelation of self-compassion on her path to sobriety.

The Finding Avalon podcast centers and celebrates authentic Disabled representation.

Disabled advocate, creator and educator Jennifer (Jenna) Barnable has curated a collection of remarkable stories from disabled, chronically ill and neurodiverse people, and our community allies.

Jenna introduces herself as host and explains why she started this podcast before giving a quick preview of the season ahead.

This grassroots, indie, feminist podcast is a one-woman production without funding or assistance, and therefore truly a labour of love. As such, it was launched on February 14th, 2025 as a Valentine to the Disability community xoxo