ListenABLE

What if you could choose not to impart a hereditary condition to your newborn before they were born. Would you take that option?

Pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) is a technique used to test embryos for known genetic conditions or chromosomal abnormalities. 

From physical health conditions all the way to mental health, Dylan and Angus are presented which two unique cases of a new IVF program called ‘Genomic Testing’ and the ethics around how far should you go when creating a "super baby" and the inherent ableism of the parents to create a "Healthy Baby".

Angus also has an exciting family news himself he shares with you, the ListenABLE family!

Link to VICE News Article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KthrLReQE70

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Grab our first merch release at our website From Your Pocket https://fromyourpocket.com.au/work/listenable/merch

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jacob Darkin went to impress his girlfriend by doing a front flip. Opening his eyes he realised he would be spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

This interview catches Dylan Alcott and Angus O'Loughlin off guard in a few moments none more so when Jacob revealed the age of his accident. 

Join us this week for a fascinating look into the life of an able-bodied father adjusting to life raising a toddler from his chair.

Follow Jacobs journey:

https://www.instagram.com/jacob.darkin/

Work with him:

https://au.linkedin.com/in/jacob-darkin

Watch this episode on our YouTube with captions

https://youtu.be/V-Y84wKq0uQ

Check out the new 11 part podcast series about Accessible Tourism: 'Accessed That'

https://www.queensland.com/au/en/things-to-do/traveller/accessibility/accessed-that-podcast

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Grab our first merch release at our website From Your Pocket https://fromyourpocket.com.au/work/listenable/merch

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Why the Shift 20 Initiative would have changed my life" - Dylan Alcott

Growing up, one thing I struggled with when I turned on the TV, the radio, or picked up the newspaper, was that I didn’t see or hear anybody like me. I saw non-disabled people. The only time I saw people with disability was as a result of a tragic car accident – the person looking sad and helpless in a wheelchair, deterring you from speeding. I used to believe this stereotype was my destiny in life – and it used to break my heart.

For nearly one in five Australians, this is the reality they still live with almost every single day. Because despite there being almost 4.5 million Australians living with disability, we are only represented in one percent of global advertising. One percent.

But with almost 20% of our population living with some form of visible or invisible disability, we make up a significant percentage of the consumer market. We’re eating at Maccas, we’re getting rideshare, we’re wearing undies, we’re opening bank accounts and we’re washing our hair – but right now we can’t see ourselves, and are left out when it comes to representation in advertising.

When it comes to inclusion of people with disability, advertising done properly is listening to those people’s lived experience, but also understanding the massive opportunity of having representation of the whole population in your brand’s work. Being more inclusive for customers is not just the right thing to do, it’s good for business, with recent research by TRA, showing a commitment to representation to be not only socially beneficial, but also economically, with 49% of respondents more likely to purchase from brands showing fair representation for people with disability. In short; when people living with disability see people who look and sound like themselves, not only are they more likely to buy the product or service being advertised, but so too are those around them – mothers, fathers, siblings and friends, who have also been impacted by disability.

We really wanted the inclusion of people with disability to become the norm, which is why, working alongside thirteen of Australia’s most prominent brands, we’ve founded the Shift 20 Initiative.

The Shift 20 initiative demonstrates the importance of visibility on-screen, by encouraging brands to commit to fair representation of disability. Initially, we’re changing a scene within ten of our founding brand’s current ads to include a person with disability, but we hope to go far beyond that, providing resources and consultancy for brands on how to be more inclusive long term. This is all whilst providing opportunities and opening doors for people with disability to be themselves and see themselves on screen, creating employment pathways for people with disability both on-screen and behind the camera.

Seeing people like me on TV would have changed my life, and that’s what is so powerful about this initiative. The talent are not famous people with disability, instead, they’re ordinary people doing ordinary things; eating breakfast, brushing their teeth, going to work and buying insurance.

We hope working in the way we have, valuing the skills and talents of those with disability in the same way we would anyone else, and partnering with the brands who are approaching this with such enthusiasm, we can shift perceptions when society thinks of people with disability. We want people to not only think of gold medal Paralympians or someone in an accident to pity. Instead, we want everyone to see normal people just like them. We want non-disabled kids to watch these ads and see someone with a disability as their equal, and not lesser than. Hopefully, on a wider scale, this will encourage everyone to have a different perspective, so you might then hire someone in your business with a disability or see someone in a bar who is blind or deaf and ask them on a date.

The thing we’d love Australia to learn out of this campaign is that we as people with disability, we shop, we eat, we travel, we work, we’re great talent, we’re just normal people. But only when given the opportunity to be ourselves.

Watch this episode, captioned, on our YouTube:

https://youtu.be/mBS0y1U23Do

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Grab our first merch release at our website From Your Pocket https://fromyourpocket.com.au/work/listenable/merch

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rory Douglas came back from a holiday in QLD with his partner and two teenage boys when a headache on his arrival back home in Melbourne went from an ear infection to Meningitis to collapsing and being found unresponsive.

Three weeks later he woke from a coma blind with no perception of light and shade and ten years on joined Dylan Alcott and Angus O'Loughlin on the ListenABLE podcast to speak about his life without vision, the assistance of a guide dog and his life and career with disability.

A wonderfully spoken and exceptional storyteller Rory's experiences won't be one you will forget anytime soon!

Email Rory: [email protected]

Watch this episode with captions on our YouTube: https://youtu.be/ri22ZthT1BI

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Grab our first merch release at our website From Your Pocket https://fromyourpocket.com.au/work/listenable/merch

Chapters

0:00 - 2:32 - Rory Douglas Intro

2:33 - 10:51 - Waking up blind and how he acquired disability

10:52 - 17:41 - Rory's family reactions and bullying of his sons

17:42 - 34:53 - Guide and assistance dogs

34:54 - 37:38 - Bowl of Uncomfortable

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On May 25th Zoe sent a DM to the ListenABLE Podcast instagram

"Just wanted to say that something Angus said on a podcast a long time ago had such a profound impact on me"

The rest of the message brings Angus to tears in this Bonus Episode of the podcast.

Thanks to Zoe for being so vulnerable with us in sharing her story and if you want to follow the wonderful journey of their family her instagram is below: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnI3uuBPNND/

Watch this episode with captions on our YouTube page:

https://youtu.be/idVk-kiBu84

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Grab our first merch release at our website From Your Pocket https://fromyourpocket.com.au/work/listenable/merch

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You know you're going to have fun when your guests profile on Instagram reads "I'm not drunk, I have cerebral palsy"

Bridie McKim walks with a "swag" onto TV sets but walks away from it leaving an incredible body of work and changed perceptions of disability. A NIDA taught actor and advocate Bridie dreams to see disability become the norm on our screens and to even feel the absence of disability like we are starting to see in other minorities.

Born a triplet and the only of the three with disability, Bridie discusses the complexity of growing up alongside her able bodied brother and sister and the path she took to pursue a career in the arts.

Follow Bride's instagram https://www.instagram.com/bridiemckim/

Hire her for your next Hollywood blockbuster https://www.rgm.com.au/?s=bridie 

Watch this interview on YouTube with Captions: https://youtu.be/2suXeCTT-Mo

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Grab our first merch release at our website From Your Pocket https://fromyourpocket.com.au/work/listenable/merch

Chapters:

0:00 - 02:29 - Introduction to Bridie

02:30 - 07:52 - Growing up a triplet with disability

07:53 - 10:25 - Becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable

10:26 - 26:34 - Being an Actor with Disability and navigating TV sets

26:35 - 32:16 - Bowl of Uncomfortable

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are your thoughts on 'Temporary Disability'?

Please let us know in your thoughts on our social posts across Instagram and Facebook

Email us your questions about disability: [email protected]

Watch this episode captioned on our YouTube: https://youtu.be/a2Kr0mQCQhQ

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Grab our first merch release at our website From Your Pocket https://fromyourpocket.com.au/work/listenable/merch

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After having his leg amputated due to cancer, James Parr had to first cope with his own internalised ableism before changing the perceptions of his friends and his ever-expanding social communities.

This included a recent Instagram post involving being asked to travel to Paris to meet a person with a fetish for amputees. James challenged those who responded to the post "Gross" as they weren't saying the offer was but that someone finding his disability sexy were.

When you're not finding him walking the runways around the country or being the face of brands like Calvin Klein you can find James writing disability advocacy pieces for Harpers Bazaar he's found in studio with us - Dylan Alcott and Angus O'Loughlin.

"Lights, Camera, ACTION"

Follow James' instagram

https://www.instagram.com/_jamesparr/

Get in contact with him:

https://jamesparr.com.au/

https://au.linkedin.com/in/james-parr-0a6095180

Check out this episode on our YouTube (captioned) 

https://youtu.be/1N5f3AV7A1U

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Grab our first merch release at our website From Your Pocket https://fromyourpocket.com.au/work/listenable/merch

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today’s Bonusode guests have stepped into the future of Disability and Politics as they report their first hand experience of the 16th Session of the United Nations State Parties as young Australians living with Disabilities.

Speaking with Charlotte Young and Justin Hill, who both gave speeches at the event in June of this year, Dylan Alcott and Angus O'Loughlin discuss what they believe the government should do to promote inclusion as well as what they've discovered about other young people with disabilities from around the world!

Watch this episode captioned on our YouTube:

https://youtu.be/dXxk3ehimnQ

Follow these Legends on Instagram:

Charlotte Young: https://www.instagram.com/iamcharlotteyoung/
Justin Hill: https://www.instagram.com/justinthomashill97/

Get in contact:

Charlotte Young: https://linktr.ee/youngcharlotte
Justin Hill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-hill-2590a3202/

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

Grab our first merch release at our website From Your Pocket https://fromyourpocket.com.au/work/listenable/merch

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to our second 'ListenABLE Kids' a space for like minded and aged young adults to have conversations about the lived experience of their disabilities.

We started these episodes as a way for Dylan and Angus to exit the conversation and allow natural language and conversation to flow from individuals with similar experiences. How can Dylan and Angus know what it's like to have an iPhone at school when they were playing snake on their Nokia's.

Guests:

Daniel O'Brien is an international Powerchair Hockey superstar playing in Switzerland for the world Championship in 2022. Daniel has Muscular Dystrophy meaning he uses a Power Wheelchair and can walk for very short distances at a time. Passionate about his sports Powerchair Hockey and Soccer, he talks about how sport breaks down the barriers when it comes to the stigma around disability but also his personal confidence hoping to inspire others to do the same. 

Josh Brass is an up and coming tennis star and Entrepreneur. His disability is Sacral Agenesis, in which Josh explains, "it mean’s I have no knee caps and limited movement in my legs". With already a jam packed schedule nothing is holding Josh back from achieve his goals as he believes his disability gives him the power to overcome all obstacles, even if it means rolling your wheelchair down a hill full speed once or twice.

Follow Josh on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/josh_brass/?hl=en

Watch this episode captioned on our YouTube:

https://youtu.be/NCzCeBJ0uiA

Join the 10,000+ legends on Instagram: @ListenABLE_ Podcast https://www.instagram.com/listenable_podcast/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.