What happens when a musician stops trying to fit into an industry and starts changing the culture instead?

This week on Pushing Forward with Alycia, Alycia Anderson welcomes award-winning recording artist, author, media personality and disability culture leader Lachi for a joyful, candid and wildly entertaining conversation about music, disability pride, representation, identity and liberation.

Lachi is the founder of RAMPD, a UN-recognized organization advancing disability inclusion across the music industry, author of I Identify as Blind, host of PBS Renegades and creator of Glam Canes. Her work uses music, fashion, humor, storytelling and pop culture to challenge the way disability has traditionally been represented.

But Lachi’s path into disability advocacy began with something deeply personal.

Growing up with low vision, she often avoided using the cane and glasses she needed because she feared being treated differently or losing opportunities in the music industry. When her vision changed dramatically, something unexpected happened: instead of making her life smaller, it pushed her to start living bigger.

Lachi began checking experiences off her bucket list, pursuing music more intentionally and eventually embracing the disability identity she had once tried to hide.

And something else changed.

Once she started asking for the access she needed, she discovered that accommodations did not make her less competitive. They helped her perform better.

That realization became part of a much larger mission.

Today, Lachi is helping bring disability culture into music, fashion, entertainment and mainstream pop culture while opening doors for other disabled creators along the way.

Alycia and Lachi talk about everything from sparkling mobility devices and disability fashion to performing with legendary musicians, meeting Stevie Wonder and unexpectedly jamming with Wynton Marsalis and the White House band.

They also dive into Lachi’s new children’s music album, Magnificent, a collaborative project featuring dozens of artists and disability community members. The album celebrates different ways of moving, thinking and communicating without watering down disability language or infantilizing young listeners.

At the center of the conversation is a message that applies far beyond disability:

The parts of ourselves we are taught to hide can become some of our greatest sources of creativity, connection and power.

Lachi reminds listeners that disability culture is not simply about overcoming barriers. It is art. Music. Perspective. Adaptation. Innovation. Community. Pride.

And it deserves a much bigger stage.

🎭 Disability culture and what it means to celebrate it

🌟 Moving from hiding disability to living visibly and proudly

♿ Why accommodations can improve performance and opportunity

✨ Disability pride, identity and unmasking

🎤 Using pop culture to challenge disability stigma and erasure

💎 Fashion, Glam Canes and mobility devices as expressions of identity

🎬 Why disability representation belongs in mainstream entertainment

🎶 Lachi’s work through RAMPD and disability inclusion in the music industry

🤝 Collaborating with disabled artists and creators

🎺 Meeting Stevie Wonder and performing with Wynton Marsalis

👑 The creation of Lachi’s album Magnificent

🧒 Teaching children disability pride without infantilizing disability

🚀 Creating larger stages and bringing the disability community along

❤️ Why belonging does not have to be earned

🔥 And the power of celebrating the parts of yourself society tells you to reject

Listen. Subscribe. Review. Share.

Find Pushing Forward with Alycia wherever you get your podcasts, and watch the full conversation on YouTube.

If this episode made you think differently about disability, identity or belonging, share it with someone in your community.

Open hearts. Clear paths. Let's go.

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Deafness, Captions & Accessibility: Progress Over Perfection with Meryl Evans

What does accessibility look like when you have depended on it your entire life?

This week on Pushing Forward with Alycia, Alycia Anderson welcomes respected accessibility advocate, speaker, content creator, consultant and CPACC-certified professional Meryl K. Evans for a candid conversation about deafness, captions, communication, advocacy and why lived experience matters when we design more accessible experiences.

Born profoundly deaf, Meryl grew up lip-reading, using hearing aids and learning how to navigate a hearing world long before today's accessibility technology existed. She remembers hunting through the TV Guide for the tiny closed-captioning symbol and the moment captions finally gave her access to the conversations everyone else was already having.

Today, Meryl helps organizations better understand accessibility through training, workshops, accessible content, user experience testing and speaking. And she brings an important reminder to the work: accessibility does not require instant perfection. It requires a willingness to listen, learn and keep moving forward.

Alycia and Meryl explore everything from growing up disabled and finding confidence through sports to the evolution of captioning, accessible social media, reading friction, disability language and the importance of hiring people with lived experience.

Meryl also challenges a growing social media trend: captions designed primarily to entertain rather than communicate.

As she explains, captions are information first. When words bounce, flash, change colors or appear one at a time, the very accessibility feature intended to provide access can instead become another barrier.

The conversation closes with a message that applies far beyond accessibility: progress over perfection.

We do not need to know everything before we begin. We need to remain curious, keep learning and continue making progress.

And sometimes progress includes knowing when to rest.

As Meryl reminds us:

“There’s a difference between taking a break and quitting.”

In This Episode

🐝 Growing Up Deaf

Meryl shares what it was like being born profoundly deaf, learning to lip-read and recognizing at an early age that she communicated differently.

🏆 Sports, Confidence & Disability

From softball to basketball, soccer, volleyball and half-marathons, Meryl reflects on how sports helped build confidence, competitiveness and resilience.

💬 The Evolution of Captions

From searching TV Guide for captioned programming to today's built-in captioning tools, Meryl shares how dramatically access has changed during her lifetime.

📱 Captions Are Information, Not Entertainment

Why animated, colorful or one-word-at-a-time captions may look engaging but create cognitive overload for people who rely on them.

♿ Lived Experience Matters

If you want to know whether an accessibility feature truly works, include people who depend on that feature in the testing and design process.

👀 Reducing Reading Friction

Small choices including alignment, capitalization, font size and formatting can dramatically change how easy content is to consume.

🗣️ Language & Disability Advocacy

Alycia and Meryl discuss terminology, education and why people sometimes need the opportunity to learn rather than being expected to already know everything.

🌱 Progress Over Perfection

Organizations are complex. Accessibility is ongoing. Sustainable inclusion happens when people continue learning and improving rather than waiting until everything is perfect.

❤️ Rest Is Not Quitting

Meryl's Pushing Forward Moment reminds us to understand our energy, take care of ourselves and recognize the difference between taking a needed break and giving up.

Key Takeaways

Episode Chapters

00:00 Podcast Intro

00:25 Meet Meryl Evans

01:52 Growing Up Deaf

03:39 Sports And Confidence

06:38 How Meryl Communicates

10:10 Captions Change Everything

13:28 Captions For Everyone

15:14 What Makes Captions Bad

18:12 Becoming An Advocate

21:38 Work With Companies Today

24:25 UX Testing And Reading Friction

26:38 Language Matters In Disability

27:45 Hope For The Future

29:33 Progress Over Perfection

31:31 Pushing Forward Moment

32:27 Final Thanks And Sign Off

The Pushing Forward Moment

“There’s a difference between taking a break and quitting.”

Meryl reminds us that taking care of ourselves is part of doing meaningful work. Pay attention to your energy. Rest when you need to. Then keep going.

Connect with Meryl Evans

Continue learning from and connecting with Meryl K. Evans, CPACC, accessibility consultant, speaker, inclusion advocate and UX tester. Meryl works with organizations through accessibility consulting, speaking engagements, training, workshops and user experience testing.

Connect with Alycia

🌐 Website:⁠ ⁠⁠https://alyciaanderson.com/⁠⁠⁠

🎙️ Podcast:⁠ ⁠⁠https://alyciaanderson.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠

💼 LinkedIn:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyciaanderson/⁠⁠⁠

📸 Instagram:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/alyciaanderson/⁠⁠⁠

About Pushing Forward with Alycia

Pushing Forward with Alycia gives disability a voice through conversations about accessibility, inclusion, ambition, resilience, leadership, advocacy, and creating a more inclusive world for all people.

Subscribe, like, share, and send this episode to someone who needs the reminder that there is no finish line when it comes to possibility, purpose, and pushing forward.

Open hearts. Clear paths. Let’s go.

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What happens when two wheelchair users fall in love, get married, build careers, travel the world and navigate life together?

Apparently, people have questions.

After sharing more of their life as a disabled couple online and seeing an overwhelming response, Alycia Anderson brings her husband, Marty Anderson, back to Pushing Forward with Alycia for a lighter, candid and often hilarious Q&A about their nearly 15 years of marriage.

Who is more stubborn?

Who notices an accessibility problem first?

Who takes longer to get ready?

Who carries more disability-related gear?

And when the world is not designed for two wheelchair users, how do they figure it out?

As Alycia and Marty quickly discover, the answers lead to much bigger conversations about disabled relationships, wheelchair accessibility, accessible travel, independence, interdependence, ableism and belonging.

Two Disabled People. One Very Normal Marriage.

One of the biggest misconceptions Alycia and Marty encounter is the assumption that when disability exists in a relationship, one person must automatically become the caregiver.

Their reality is much different.

They help each other.

Sometimes that means Marty holding Alycia's wheelchair during a transfer or Alycia grabbing onto Marty's chair for a tow.

Sometimes it means reviewing an email, figuring out a business decision or helping each other navigate a difficult moment.

And sometimes it simply means knowing somebody is standing beside you.

As Alycia puts it, having Marty on her team makes her feel braver in the actions she takes in her life.

Their partnership illustrates something much bigger: support in a relationship does not always move in one direction.

When Accessibility Assumes Disabled People Are Alone

Some of the funniest stories in the episode expose something decidedly less funny: much of the world is still designed around the assumption that a wheelchair user will be accompanied by a nondisabled caregiver.

Movie theaters may provide one wheelchair space and one companion chair.

Venues may offer accessible seating without considering that two wheelchair users might actually want to sit beside each other.

Transportation systems may have accessibility policies but still create frustrating or alienating customer experiences.

Hotels may technically meet accessibility standards while still making everyday tasks difficult.

Alycia and Marty have spent years navigating those gaps together.

Their solution is often the same:

Figure it out.

For Alycia, that mindset is deeply connected to disability itself.

When the world is not designed for you, creativity and adaptation become part of everyday life.

The Airport Shuttle Stress Is Real

Accessible travel gets its own unofficial therapy session in this episode.

Alycia and Marty talk about one of their biggest travel stressors: getting from the airport to the rental car facility.

Wheelchair-accessible shuttle experiences can be unpredictable. Ramps may not work. Drivers may approach wheelchair passengers differently. Other travelers may board while wheelchair users are still waiting. Policies can sometimes override a simple conversation about what actually works best for the individual passenger.

The frustration is not always about the equipment.

It is about the experience.

Marty describes accessibility as something that should create a feeling of being invited rather than treated like an exception.

That distinction between technical access and true belonging sits at the center of much of Alycia's work.

Accessible Parking Is More Complicated Than It Looks

Alycia and Marty also tackle one of disability culture's perennial hot topics: accessible parking.

They are quick to point out that disability does not have one appearance. Someone using an accessible parking space may have a completely legitimate non-apparent disability.

But they also raise an important distinction around van-accessible spaces and access aisles.

Those striped areas next to certain spaces are not extra parking. They provide the room someone may need to deploy a wheelchair ramp, transfer from a vehicle, use a walker or maneuver mobility equipment.

It is another example of how accessibility education can make systems work better for everyone.

What Do Nondisabled Couples Take for Granted?

Their answer?

Sometimes, spontaneity.

Traveling without researching accessibility.

Accepting an invitation to someone's house without wondering whether you can enter.

Booking a rideshare without thinking about whether a wheelchair will fit or whether the driver will refuse the trip.

Checking into a hotel without wondering whether the mirror can actually be seen from a wheelchair.

These may seem like tiny details individually.

Collectively, they shape whether people can participate fully and independently in everyday life.

Disabled Relationship Myth Busting

Perhaps the biggest misconception Alycia and Marty challenge is the belief that two disabled people somehow live a fundamentally different kind of relationship.

Their marriage has accessibility logistics and mobility adaptations, yes.

It also has careers.

Finances.

Intimacy.

Arguments.

Love.

Partnership.

Medical challenges.

Travel.

Laughter.

And almost fifteen years of figuring life out together.

Disability is part of their relationship.

It is not the entirety of it.

Marriage Is Still Marriage

Near the end of the episode, Marty asks Alycia what nearly fifteen years together has taught her that has nothing to do with disability.

Her answer becomes one of the episode's most beautiful moments.

Marriage, she says, is one of the hardest things she has ever committed to, but also one of the very best.

Creating a life with another person remains one of the accomplishments she treasures most.

And after several heavy weeks for the Anderson household, their final Pushing Forward Moments are wonderfully simple.

Marty's:

Take life a little lighter. Have some fun. Everything does not have to be serious.

Alycia's:

All you need is love.

Sometimes pushing forward means solving the accessibility problem.

Sometimes it means advocating for change.

And sometimes it means laughing with the person sitting beside you while you figure everything else out.

IN THIS EPISODE

Alycia and Marty discuss:

KEY THEMES

💞 Disabled Love

Disabled people date, marry, build families and experience the same complex layers of partnership as anyone else.

♿ Accessibility vs. Belonging

Compliance can create access. Human-centered design creates belonging.

🤝 Interdependence

Independence does not mean doing everything alone. Healthy relationships involve giving and receiving support.

✈️ Accessible Travel

Transportation, hotels, shuttles and rideshares remain major areas where accessibility can break down.

👀 Disability Representation

Systems often reveal an underlying assumption that disabled people will be accompanied by nondisabled caregivers.

💡 Problem Solving

Adaptation is not an occasional disability skill. It can become an everyday way of navigating environments not designed with you in mind.

❤️ Marriage

Underneath all of the disability-specific logistics, Alycia and Marty are simply two people who have spent almost fifteen years building a life together.

UNFORGETTABLE QUOTES

“Being disabled and a couple is not nearly as complicated or ‘tragic’ as some people imagine.” ~ Alycia Anderson

“How do two people help each other? It’s just a natural thing to do when you love each other.” ~ Marty Anderson

“The world’s not built for us, so we figure it out.” ~ Alycia Anderson

CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:25 Why This Q&A

02:59 Stubbornness And Help

04:35 Travel Shuttle Stress

07:45 Getting Ready Routines

09:19 Parking Spot Etiquette

12:27 Speaking Up Access

14:13 How We Help

17:24 Myths And Assumptions

20:35 Non Disabled Privilege

23:08 Hot Takes Debate

27:05 Marriage Lessons Wrap

27:50 Pushing Forward Moments

Connect with Alycia Anderson

Visit⁠⁠ ⁠⁠AlyciaAnderson.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about Alycia’s keynotes, disability inclusion programs, accessibility resources, and consulting services.

Explore more episodes of⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Pushing Forward with Alycia⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Pushing Forward is how we roll.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes pushing forward looks like going faster.

And sometimes it looks like recording a podcast from bed.

In Episode 155 of Pushing Forward with Alycia, Alycia Anderson welcomes her husband, Marty Anderson, back to the microphone for one of their most personal conversations yet.

Over the past several months, Alycia and Marty have found themselves navigating an unexpected medical journey that has included multiple hospitalizations, a bowel obstruction, a uterine embolization and the placement of a nephrostomy tube to protect Alycia’s functioning kidney while her body heals.

But this episode is not simply a medical update.

It is a conversation about aging with disability, something Alycia and Marty are discovering requires continuously getting reacquainted with bodies that change over time.

Both are wheelchair users. Both live with different disabilities. And after nearly fifteen years of marriage, the couple is experiencing one of those seasons when the vows “in sickness and in health” become very real.

When the Body Changes the Plan

Alycia has spent a lifetime adapting.

Born with a congenital disability, she describes herself in the episode as a “science project that’s gone right.” From the outside, people may simply see a wheelchair user. Internally, however, her anatomy and health are far more complex.

Now, aging, disability and perimenopause are colliding in ways she could not have predicted.

The physical challenges have also introduced something emotionally difficult for a lifelong achiever: being forced to slow down.

Alycia admits that one of her greatest fears has not simply been the medical uncertainty.

It has been losing momentum.

After an incredibly successful Disability Pride Month, nine events, the company’s first live webinar and Alycia's Pitch Perfect competition win at Disability:IN, suddenly the body demanded something completely different.

Rest.

Running a Business When Life Says Stop

Being self employed might seem like it would make dealing with illness easier.

Alycia and Marty explain why the opposite can be true.

There is no traditional medical leave. No department waiting to absorb the workload. No manager to tell that you will be unavailable for the month.

When one partner becomes sick, the other is balancing caregiving, household responsibilities, client needs and the business itself.

It has forced Marty into an even larger role while simultaneously asking Alycia to release control over work she deeply cares about.

And for a self described Type A personality, that surrender has not come easily.

When Both Partners Have Disabilities

One of the most compelling parts of the conversation explores a question people have asked Alycia and Marty throughout their relationship:

How will two disabled people take care of each other?

Their answer is beautifully simple.

They adapt.

When Alycia became unable to transfer as easily after her hospitalization, Marty drew from years of disability experience and ordered a transfer board.

They modified routines.

They used equipment differently.

They accepted home healthcare.

They figured it out together.

And while their disabilities can create additional logistical complications, Alycia says they also create something extraordinarily valuable within their relationship: understanding.

Marty does not need an explanation of what it feels like when the body suddenly stops cooperating.

Alycia does not need to translate disability for him.

That shared understanding creates an intimacy rooted in lived experience.

“I Don’t Have to Be the Strongest Person in the Room Every Day”

Perhaps the most vulnerable moment comes when Marty asks Alycia what this season is teaching her.

She does not manufacture an inspirational answer.

Instead, she admits that she does not know yet.

She is still inside it.

But she is beginning to understand something important.

It is okay to rest.

It is okay to say she is too tired.

It is okay to receive help.

And it is okay not to be the strongest person in the room every single day.

For someone whose career has been built around resilience, achievement and pushing forward, that may be one of the biggest adaptations of all.

Love as an Accessibility Tool

There is also a love story woven quietly through this episode.

Alycia talks about lying in bed while recovering, looking over at Marty and feeling safe.

She describes this medical season as a reminder of the depth their marriage has developed over time.

Not because everything has been easy.

Because it has not.

But because when things become difficult, they know how to turn toward one another.

Their marriage becomes another form of adaptation.

Another form of access.

Another reminder that independence does not have to mean doing everything alone.

Episode Themes

♿ The Things Disability Keeps Teaching Us

♿ Aging with disability and adapting as bodies and needs change

❤️ Disabled love and marriage through unexpected medical challenges

🫶 Caregiving when both partners have disabilities

🩺 Navigating complex medical care and repeated hospitalizations

🛏️ Learning to rest without feeling like you are giving up

💼 Running a business during a health crisis

🧠 The emotional weight of losing independence and momentum

🔄 Adaptation as a lifelong disability skill

🤝 Letting other people show up for you

💛 Receiving care instead of always being the strong one

🦽 Accessible caregiving, transfers and changing mobility needs

🌱 Aging, disability and reengaging with your body

🙏 Surrendering control and trusting your support system

💡 Finding light while you are still inside the difficult season

Unforgettable Quotes

“There’s no other way for me to get better or to find what I am to learn and where I’m to grow from here than going straight through it.” ~ Alycia Anderson

“Things can get complicated. Things can get severe. Things can get critical. But it’s how we carry ourselves.” ~ Marty Anderson

Episode Chapters

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:25 Medical Journey Update

03:32 Aging With Disability

05:47 Self Employed Stress

08:41 Procedures And Setbacks

11:49 New Normal Adapting

14:05 Lessons And Rest

15:50 Dual Disability Care

22:53 Pushing Forward Moments

26:58 Closing And Gratitude

Connect with Alycia Anderson

Visit⁠ ⁠⁠AlyciaAnderson.com⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about Alycia’s keynotes, disability inclusion programs, accessibility resources, and consulting services.

Explore more episodes of⁠ ⁠⁠Pushing Forward with Alycia⁠⁠⁠.

Pushing Forward is how we roll.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if the trip you thought was impossible was simply waiting for the right access?

For many disabled travelers, dreaming about a destination comes with an immediate second thought:

But can I actually go there?

In Episode 154 of Pushing Forward with Alycia, Alycia Anderson sits down with Karen Morales, luxury travel advisor, speaker, wheelchair user, disability travel advocate, and leader within Fora Travel's accessibility initiative, for a conversation that may completely change the way you think about accessible travel.

Karen lives with limb girdle muscular dystrophy and began using a wheelchair full time in 2020. But losing mobility did not mean losing her identity as a traveler. Instead, it pushed her to rethink what independence, adventure, and possibility could look like.

And she went exploring.

Japan. Morocco. Sicily. Costa Rica. France. Canada. Africa.

Karen discovered that some of the destinations disabled travelers assume will be impossible can deliver extraordinary experiences when the right people, information, creativity, and hospitality come together.

Her work is also proving something the travel industry cannot ignore. Fora's accessibility initiative has been associated with $75 million in accessible travel sales, showing that accessible hospitality is not merely about regulations or checking an ADA box. It represents a significant and underserved business opportunity.

Karen's philosophy is refreshingly simple: Travel is travel. Hospitality is hospitality.

Whether someone needs a roll in shower, a specific bed height, allergy accommodations, a medical refrigerator, sensory support, a service animal accommodation, or simply a different pillow, great hospitality begins by understanding what that traveler needs before they arrive.

This conversation goes far beyond accessible hotel rooms.

Alycia and Karen talk about accepting mobility devices, reclaiming independence, traveling with progressive disability, universal design, raising expectations, the power of lived experience, and why disabled people should not have to beg to participate in life's most beautiful experiences.

And Karen leaves us with one invitation:

Stop assuming the world is closed to you before you explore what might actually be possible.

🌎 Passport to Possibility: What We Explore

♿ Wheelchair Travel and Independence

How Karen's wheelchair ultimately restored independence that declining mobility had taken away.

🌎 Accessible Travel Around the World

Why destinations including Sicily, Morocco, Japan, and Canada may be far more possible than disabled travelers assume.

🏨 Accessibility as Hospitality

Why access should be viewed as part of exceptional guest service rather than simply legal compliance.

💰 The Business Case for Accessibility

How accessible travel became connected to $75 million in sales through Fora's initiative.

❤️ Leading With Heart

How small acts of awareness can make disabled travelers feel genuinely welcomed.

🛏️ Accessible Hotel Design

Roll in showers, reachable toiletries, mirrors, balconies, room configuration, bed heights, and the details hotels often overlook.

🧳 Planning Reduces Travel Anxiety

Why photos, measurements, advance communication, and knowledgeable travel advisors can transform the experience.

🦽 Accepting a Mobility Device

Karen's emotional journey from resisting wheelchair use to realizing the wheelchair gave her freedom back.

🧠 Lived Experience Matters

Why advisors who understand disability firsthand can ask questions that technology alone cannot anticipate.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Multigenerational Accessibility

Disability access also benefits older adults, children, caregivers, people with allergies, chronic illness, sensory needs, and families.

🏖️ Adventure Without Assumptions

Beach wheelchairs, adaptive zip lining, accessible safaris, glamping, hiking, and other experiences many disabled travelers may never have considered possible.

🤝 Assuming Best Intentions

Karen's Pushing Forward Moment about meeting differences and barriers with curiosity, empathy, and an assumption of positive intent.

✈️ Your Accessible Travel Itinerary

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:28 Meet Karen Morales

01:46 Why Travel Matters

02:57 Luxury Access Gap

04:37 Accessible Travel Market

05:53 Hospitality Not Compliance

07:26 Japan Hotel Done Right

10:55 Small Fixes Big Impact

14:00 Shower Design Reality

16:22 Culture of Inclusion Abroad

19:33 Sicily Beach Magic

21:20 Alycia Wants In

21:50 Accessible Transport Options

23:02 Morocco Accessibility Myths

24:49 Living With Progression

25:49 Wheelchairs And Independence

30:05 Fora Accessibility Initiative

34:26 Wheelchair Zip Lining

35:11 Accessible Canada Road Trip

37:54 How To Work With Karen

39:10 Assume Best Intentions

💬 Postcards Worth Keeping

“I don't want people to feel like a burden. I don't want people to feel like they're begging for access.” ~ Karen Morales

“Travel is travel, and travel should be inclusive of anyone.” ~ Karen Morales

“We can usually find greater peace when we assume the best intentions.” ~ Karen Morales

Key Takeaways

Accessibility and luxury belong together. Disabled travelers should not have to sacrifice quality, beauty, service, or adventure to receive accommodations.

Information itself is an accessibility feature. Photos, measurements, room details, shower configurations, and proactive communication reduce uncertainty before a traveler ever arrives.

Mobility devices can expand freedom. Karen's wheelchair initially represented something she resisted, but eventually became the tool that restored independence.

Accessible travel is a major market opportunity. Fora's initiative demonstrates meaningful consumer demand for better accessible travel planning and hospitality.

Do not eliminate destinations based on assumptions. Karen's experiences in Morocco, Sicily, Japan, and elsewhere demonstrate that infrastructure tells only part of the accessibility story.

Connect With Karen Morales

Ready to stop wondering “Can I go?” and start asking “Where next?”

Karen Morales combines extensive personal travel experience with the lived perspective of navigating the world as a wheelchair user. Through Joyward Travel and Fora Travel, she helps individuals and families plan trips around their actual needs, preferences, abilities, and dreams.

Karen's Links

Joyward Travel (https://www.gojoyward.com/) 

Karen's Fora Travel Advisor Page (https://www.foratravel.com/advisor/karen-morales) 

Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/gojoyward/) 

LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-morales-157b412/z) 

Fora Travel (https://www.foratravel.com/) 

Connect with Alycia Anderson

Visit ⁠⁠AlyciaAnderson.com⁠⁠ to learn more about Alycia’s keynotes, disability inclusion programs, accessibility resources, and consulting services.

Explore more episodes of ⁠⁠Pushing Forward with Alycia⁠⁠.

Pushing Forward is how we roll.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are an estimated 580 million children with disabilities worldwide, and approximately 80 percent of people with disabilities live in developing nations. Too many children are still hidden, neglected, denied access to inclusive education and equitable healthcare, or excluded from community life because of fear, misinformation, and deeply rooted disability stigma.

In this powerful episode of Pushing Forward with Alycia, disability inclusion advocate and host Alycia Anderson welcomes Cynthia Bauer, US CEO and cofounder of Kupenda for the Children, for a conversation about transforming harmful disability beliefs into dignity, opportunity, and lasting inclusion.

Kupenda trains thousands of families, young people, faith leaders, educators, healthcare providers, and government leaders to become disability advocates. These community advocates help children with disabilities gain access to education, medical care, protection, and meaningful inclusion in family and community life.

Cynthia shares how her unexpected journey into advocacy began while she was studying wildlife biology in Kenya. Born without her left hand, Cynthia learned that harmful cultural beliefs about disability could have placed her own life at risk had she been born in a different community. That realization changed the direction of her life and eventually led her and Kenyan special education teacher Leonard Mbonani to create Kupenda.

Together, Alycia and Cynthia explore why societal perceptions and attitudinal barriers often create greater limitations than physical disabilities themselves. They discuss the damage caused by faith healing claims, misinformation, segregated education, inaccessible environments, and charitable approaches that treat disabled people as objects rather than leaders.

Cynthia also explains why Kupenda does not enter communities by condemning local leaders or simply telling people they are wrong. Instead, its community led disability inclusion workshops encourage honest discussion, respectful questioning, lived experience, and practical education. Pastors, traditional healers, parents, disabled advocates, and government leaders are invited to examine the consequences of their beliefs and discover better ways to support disabled children and their families.

At the center of the conversation is a simple but powerful message: people with disabilities are fully human. They deserve the same love, freedom, opportunity, dignity, equality, and full participation in community life as everyone else.

The word Kupenda means “to love” in Swahili. Cynthia describes it not simply as an emotion, but as a constant action of loving. That meaning reflects the organization’s mission to replace fear and exclusion with understanding, advocacy, dignity, and belonging.

Love in Action: What We Explore in This Episode

🌍 The global realities facing children with disabilities

💛 Why Kupenda means a constant action of loving

♿ How disability stigma can become more limiting than disability itself

🧠 The difference between physical barriers and societal perceptions

📖 Why lived experience and storytelling change minds

🙏 The role faith leaders can play in either reinforcing or dismantling stigma

🗣️ How respectful conversations can transform harmful beliefs

👧 Why inclusive childhood experiences create more accepting adults

🏫 The damage caused when adults separate disabled and nondisabled children

🤝 Why disability can unite people across cultural differences

🌱 How community led advocacy creates lasting change

💼 Why disability must be included in education, healthcare, gender equity, poverty reduction, and global development

💰 Why disability funding must move beyond charity and medical models

✨ How personal challenges can become tools for helping others

Rolling Through the Conversation

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:29 Disability By Numbers

01:03 Meet Cynthia Bauer

02:57 From Wildlife To Advocacy

06:57 Stigma And Faith Healing

08:56 Workshops Changing Minds

13:45 Disability Across Cultures

18:15 Kids Lead Inclusion

20:55 One Day Workshop Model

22:45 Defining Disability

25:53 Why Kupenda Means Love

27:28 How To Support Kupenda

31:59 Funding And Human Rights

33:53 Pushing Forward Moment

35:50 Closing Thanks

Words That Keep Pushing Us Forward

“The disability unites us more than the cultures divide us.” ~ Cynthia Bauer

“At the end of the day, what does every person want but to be loved and included?” ~ Cynthia Bauer

CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA BAUER AND KUPENDA

Learn more about Cynthia Bauer and the work Kupenda is doing to transform disability stigma into dignity, opportunity, and inclusion.

About Cynthia Bauer

Cynthia Bauer is the US CEO and cofounder of Kupenda for the Children. Born without her left hand, Cynthia first traveled to Kenya as a wildlife biology student. Her encounters with disabled people who faced extreme stigma and exclusion inspired her to help create an organization focused on disability justice and community transformation.

For more than 25 years, Cynthia has worked alongside local leaders, disabled advocates, families, educators, faith communities, and nonprofit organizations to reduce disability stigma and develop sustainable, locally led solutions. Kupenda’s workshop model is now being replicated by organizations in multiple communities around the world.

Kupenda for the Children https://kupenda.org/

Cynthia Bauer and Kupenda Leadership https://kupenda.org/our-team/our-team/

The Story of Kupenda https://kupenda.org/our-story/

Donate or Support a Child https://give.kupenda.org/

Kupenda Resources https://kupenda.org/resources/

Unlikely Gifts Podcast https://kupenda.org/podcast/

Cynthia Bauer on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-bauer-5246463/

Email [email protected]

Kupenda also offers opportunities to volunteer, host events, arrange documentary screenings, invite speakers, and access disability advocacy resources.

Connect with Alycia Anderson

Visit ⁠AlyciaAnderson.com⁠ to learn more about Alycia’s keynotes, disability inclusion programs, accessibility resources, and consulting services.

Explore more episodes of ⁠Pushing Forward with Alycia⁠.

Pushing Forward is how we roll.

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What happens when you stop trying to become the person the world expects and finally begin choosing who you want to be?

In Episode 152 of Pushing Forward with Alycia, host Alycia Anderson welcomes global speaker, bestselling author, disability advocate, activist, and content creator Spencer West for a powerful conversation about disability identity, autonomy, interdependence, and breaking free from expectations.

Spencer is the author of Breaking Free: Stop Following Expectations and Start Following Yourself, a new book that invites readers to question the expectations shaping their lives and begin choosing a more authentic path.

Born with a genetic condition that prevented the muscles in his legs from functioning, Spencer underwent surgeries that resulted in the amputation of both legs just below his pelvis. Growing up, he was repeatedly told that he was “just like everyone else” and that every child wanted to walk.

But prosthetic legs were not the best mobility choice for Spencer.

By sixth grade, his parents and therapist gave him the opportunity to decide for himself how he wanted to navigate the world. Choosing to stop using prosthetic legs became one of his earliest lessons in bodily autonomy.

“The moment I realized I could choose how I wanted to navigate the world, everything started to change.”

That decision did not eliminate the pressure to fit in. Spencer shares how he continued confronting internalized ableism, social expectations, and the confusing message that disability should be ignored rather than embraced as part of his identity.

The Life Changing Power of Autonomy

Spencer and Alycia discuss why disabled children deserve the opportunity to participate in decisions about their own bodies, mobility, healthcare, and lives.

Spencer credits his parents with giving him choices instead of assuming they always knew what was best for him. Looking back, he recognizes that this early experience helped him understand that he could make other meaningful choices too.

For parents, educators, medical professionals, and leaders, his story offers an important reminder: supporting disabled people does not mean controlling every decision. It means creating space for autonomy, self discovery, and informed choice.

Climbing Kilimanjaro and Redefining Help

Spencer also shares the story behind climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

He was not motivated by a desire to prove that “anything is possible.” In fact, Spencer openly admits that he does not like camping and had never dreamed of becoming a mountain climber.

The climb became part of a larger campaign called Redefine Possible, which raised more than its original $500,000 goal for clean water initiatives in East Africa.

Spencer trained for a year alongside two of his closest friends. Although the original plan was to use both his wheelchair and his hands to climb, the terrain required him to navigate much more of the mountain on his hands than expected.

Throughout the expedition, Spencer relied on his friends for physical support. But on summit day, both friends became sick from the altitude.

Suddenly, the person who assumed he would need the most assistance became the person helping them continue.

Spencer could not physically carry his friends, but he could stay beside them, encourage them, and keep moving forward with them.

That experience transformed how he viewed strength.

“We all need help. We all need to ask for help, and we all need to offer help.”

Rather than celebrating the myth of the self made person, Spencer encourages people to embrace interdependence, the understanding that every person depends on support, relationships, community, and collaboration.

Moving Beyond Inspiration Porn

Spencer and Alycia examine the harmful narratives that often surround disabled people who accomplish highly visible goals.

Spencer never wanted his Kilimanjaro climb reduced to a message suggesting that if a disabled person can climb a mountain, everyone should be able to overcome every barrier.

That framing ignores systemic ableism, access needs, privilege, support, and the reality that every disabled person has a different body and experience.

Spencer shares how disability justice advocate Naomi Ortiz challenged him to reconsider the way he talked about the climb. The true story was not that he overcame disability alone. It was that he reached the summit through community and interdependence.

That conversation led Spencer to study disability history, disability justice, and the advocates who have shaped the movement. Today, much of his content reflects what he continues to learn and unlearn in real time.

What Does It Mean to Break Free?

Spencer’s new book, Breaking Free: Stop Following Expectations and Start Following Yourself, examines the expectations people absorb from the moment they enter the world.

For Spencer, those expectations included:

As a disabled gay man growing up in a conservative Wyoming community, Spencer gradually realized that many of those expectations did not reflect who he was or what he wanted.

Breaking free became the process of identifying which expectations belonged to him and which ones had been placed upon him by others.

“My value and success are not tied up in what my body can produce.”

Spencer explains that breaking free does not always require climbing a mountain or completely changing your career. It can begin with one small decision, such as leaving an unhealthy relationship, exploring a new passion, moving to another city, or making room for something that brings joy.

Disability as Identity

During a volunteer trip to Kenya, Spencer spoke with students about his disability. A young girl told him she had not realized that the loss of limbs could happen to a white person too.

Her observation sparked a major realization.

Until that moment, Spencer had viewed disability primarily as something that happened to him. He had not yet embraced it as part of his identity.

That experience helped him begin connecting disability with the other layers of who he is, including being queer, a speaker, a creator, and an advocate.

Spencer and Alycia reflect on how long it can take to fully embrace disability identity after growing up in environments that treated disability as something negative, shameful, or separate from the self.

A Book Designed to Become a Tool

Breaking Free is more than a memoir.

Spencer designed the book as a practical guide for readers who are questioning the expectations shaping their lives. Each chapter includes exercises, reflection questions, key concepts, and opportunities for readers to begin their own process of change.

The book also gives Spencer an opportunity to share parts of his life that he had not discussed publicly before, including the pressure he experienced to hide his queer identity while working within an organization concerned about conservative donors and religious partners.

After years of advocacy from Spencer, queer colleagues, and allies, he eventually shared his coming out story publicly on June 26, 2015, the day marriage equality became law across the United States.

For Spencer, that moment represented years of persistence, truth telling, and breaking free.

Spencer West’s North Star

Today, Spencer continues speaking, creating digital content, and helping organizations understand the value of hiring disabled talent.

His work challenges myths about disabled employees and highlights the unnecessary ableism many disabled people face while trying to find meaningful employment.

His current North Star is clear: get Breaking Free into the hands of people who need permission to question expectations, embrace their identities, and begin choosing themselves.

In This Episode

Memorable Quotes from Spencer West

“The moment I realized I could choose how I wanted to navigate the world, everything started to change.”

“The story was not that I reached the top alone. The story was interdependence.”

The Pushing Forward Moment

“Maybe our job is not to become anything. Maybe our job is to unbecome all the things that do not belong to us so we can become the person we were meant to be.”

Spencer explains that this idea, inspired by a passage associated with Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, became the guiding thesis behind Breaking Free.

Connect with Spencer West

Visit Spencer2TheWest.com to learn more about Spencer, book him to speak, and find his new book.

Follow Spencer on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at @spencer2thewest.

Book: Breaking Free: Stop Following Expectations and Start Following Yourself

Available wherever books are sold.

Connect with Alycia Anderson

Visit AlyciaAnderson.com to learn more about Alycia’s keynotes, disability inclusion programs, accessibility resources, and consulting services.

Explore more episodes of Pushing Forward with Alycia.

Pushing Forward is how we roll.

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What happens when you finally meet someone who understands how your body works?

For Alycia Anderson and Karen Tamley, a LinkedIn introduction became the beginning of a powerful disability sisterhood.

Both women were born with sacral agenesis, a rare congenital disability affecting the lower spine. They grew up using wheelchairs during a time when disabled children were routinely underestimated, accessibility was rare, and doctors placed devastating limitations on their futures.

Then they met and immediately began comparing notes:

“Wait, your body does that? Mine does too.”

In Episode 151 of Pushing Forward with Alycia, Karen Tamley, President and CEO of Access Living, joins Alycia for an honest conversation about rare disability, peer support, leadership, aging, Disability Pride, and the urgent fight to protect disability rights.

Finding Someone Who Understands

Karen did not meet another person with sacral agenesis until her twenties. Before social media, finding others with the same disability was incredibly difficult.

Meeting Alycia gave both women a rare opportunity to talk openly about their bodies, mobility, health, childhoods, and aging without having to explain every detail first.

Karen describes that connection as a security blanket and safety net. Their friendship reflects the importance of peer support within the independent living movement. Disabled people hold knowledge that cannot always be found in medical offices or textbooks, and that lived experience can help others navigate healthcare, access, identity, and everyday life.

Growing Up Before Accessibility

Alycia and Karen remember life before the Americans with Disabilities Act.

They recall inaccessible buses, oversized wheelchairs, buildings with stairs, restaurants without accessible bathrooms, and being carried into spaces.

Karen shares that her mother carried her up four stairs every morning to reach a summer job in an inaccessible building. She also remembers putting flip flops on her hands so she could crawl across public restroom floors.

Alycia had done the same thing.

Their stories reveal how exclusion becomes normalized when disabled people are not protected by enforceable civil rights.

Community Living Is a Disability Right

Karen explains the importance of the 1999 Olmstead decision, which affirmed that unnecessary institutionalization and segregation can be discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The decision helped establish that disabled people have the right to receive services and live within their communities.

Through Access Living and partner organizations, disabled people are supported as they transition from nursing facilities and institutions into their own homes.

Karen warns that Medicaid reductions, weakened enforcement, and renewed conversations about institutionalization threaten decades of progress.

Disabled people are asking for the right to live in their own homes, make decisions about their lives, and participate fully in their communities.

Advocacy Belongs to Everyone

Karen reminds listeners that advocacy is not limited to policy experts.

People can make a difference by learning from trusted disability led organizations, sharing accurate information, contacting elected officials, submitting public comments, telling personal stories, amplifying disabled advocates, and connecting with a local Center for Independent Living.

Her message is clear:

Do not assume your voice will not be heard. Speak up anyway.

Leadership Begins in the Deep End

Karen credits her parents and mentors with encouraging her to take risks.

Her mother often said they were going to throw Karen into the deep end of the pool and let her figure out how to swim. That mindset followed her throughout her career.

Mentors including Judy Heumann, Ed Roberts, Wade Blank, and Marca Bristo recognized Karen’s potential and placed her in leadership roles before she always felt ready.

Karen later served as Commissioner of the Chicago Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, was appointed to the U.S. Access Board, and became President and CEO of Access Living.

Her journey demonstrates the power of leaders who believe in someone before that person fully believes in themselves.

Disability Pride and Aging

For Karen, Disability Pride means community, visibility, self worth, and being okay with who we are.

It does not mean loving every part of disability every day. Pride can exist alongside pain, fear, frustration, internalized ableism, and uncertainty.

Alycia and Karen also discuss the realities of aging with a rare disability, including concerns about mobility, transfers, travel, health, and future independence.

Both women were given frightening medical predictions as children. Decades later, they are still here, leading, traveling, advocating, creating community, and celebrating every year they were told they might never have.

Aging with disability can be uncertain.

It is also a privilege.

You Deserve to Be in the Space

Karen’s Pushing Forward moment is a challenge to step outside your comfort zone.

Attend the event. Accept the opportunity. Enter the room, even when you do not know anyone.

Leadership does not eliminate fear or imposter syndrome.

You deserve to be there. You deserve to be in that space.

Two Women, One Rare Disability, and a Movement to Protect

🧬 Rare disability connection: Discovering someone else who lives with sacral agenesis

🤝 Disability sisterhood: The emotional and practical value of finding someone who understands

♿ Peer support: Why lived experience is a core part of independent living

🚌 Life before the ADA: Growing up without accessible buses, bathrooms, buildings, and mobility equipment

🚻 Normalized inaccessibility: Crawling, being carried, and adapting to spaces that excluded disabled people

⚖️ Disability civil rights: Protecting the laws and legal decisions that support integration and access

🏠 Community living: The right of disabled people to live outside institutions

💰 Medicaid and support services: How funding decisions affect independence and personal choice

📣 Everyday advocacy: Public comments, storytelling, education, organizing, and contacting representatives

👩‍💼 Disabled women in leadership: Karen’s path from advocacy roles to executive leadership

🔥 Mentorship: Being encouraged to enter roles before feeling completely ready

🎉 Disability Pride: Visibility, community, self worth, and accepting the full reality of disability

🧓 Aging with disability: Facing uncertainty while celebrating the privilege of growing older

💡 Imposter syndrome: Claiming your place even when confidence has not caught up yet

From Rare Disability Sisterhood to Disability Rights Action

TIMESTAMPS

Words That Demand Visibility, Action, and Pride

“There’s an inherent value in people with disabilities connecting with individuals with disabilities and sharing those lived experiences.”

Karen Tamley

“We have seen life before we had any rights.”

Karen Tamley

“Institutionalization and segregation is a form of discrimination.”

Karen Tamley

CONNECT WITH KAREN TAMLEY

Stay Informed. Get Involved. Protect Disability Rights.

Karen Tamley is President and CEO of Access Living, a Chicago based Center for Independent Living led by and for people with disabilities.

♿ ⁠Learn more about Karen Tamley⁠

🏠 ⁠Visit Access Living⁠

📣 ⁠Subscribe to the Access Living Advocacy Newsletter⁠

💗 ⁠Support Access Living’s work⁠

🤝 ⁠Get involved with Access Living⁠

📍 ⁠Find a Center for Independent Living near you⁠

Connect with Alycia

🌐 Website: ⁠⁠https://alyciaanderson.com/⁠⁠

🎙️ Podcast: ⁠⁠https://alyciaanderson.com/podcast⁠⁠

💼 LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyciaanderson/⁠⁠

📸 Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/alyciaanderson/⁠⁠

About Pushing Forward with Alycia

Pushing Forward with Alycia gives disability a voice through conversations about accessibility, inclusion, ambition, resilience, leadership, advocacy, and creating a more inclusive world for all people.

Subscribe, like, share, and send this episode to someone who needs the reminder that there is no finish line when it comes to possibility, purpose, and pushing forward.

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“If you do nothing, you will get nothing.”

Former IndyCar champion Sam Schmidt joins host Alycia Anderson for a powerful conversation about spinal cord injury recovery, quadriplegia, adaptive technology, disability advocacy, neurorehabilitation, resilience, and life after paralysis. After a 180-mile-per-hour crash changed his life in an instant, Sam transformed an unimaginable diagnosis into a mission rooted in recovery, innovation, and purpose.

“If you don’t try, you won’t know.”

Sam shares how he went from winning his first IndyCar race in 1999 to surviving a devastating high-level spinal cord injury and waking up dependent on a ventilator. When doctors predicted a short life in a nursing home, his family refused to accept that prognosis. Their relentless advocacy connected Sam with intensive spinal cord injury rehabilitation that helped him breathe independently, rebuild his health, and begin creating a future with no finish line.

Two important themes emerge from Sam’s story: never accept one person’s prognosis as the final answer, and learn how to advocate for the rehabilitation, equipment, and healthcare support you need.

Sam and Alycia explore the realities of insurance advocacy, accessible healthcare, caregiver support, mental health, aging with disability, and long-term spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Sam explains how he negotiated for the equipment, therapy, and resources that supported his independence while challenging a healthcare system that too often limits recovery before it has truly begun.

“Racing is my passion. DRIVEN Neuro is my purpose.”

The conversation also explores Sam’s memoir, No Finish Line: A Racer’s Journey of Passion, Perseverance, and Purpose, his championship-winning racing career, and the growth of DRIVEN Neuro, a nonprofit expanding access to activity-based neurorecovery, adaptive fitness, neurological rehabilitation, wellness programs, and disability community support for people living with spinal cord injuries and other neurological conditions.

Sam’s story is more than a comeback. It is a call to action about self-advocacy, perseverance, accessible innovation, teamwork, and finding purpose after a life-changing injury. As Sam reminds us, progress may look different for every person, but possibility begins when we choose to take action.

🏁 Growing up in a family built around racing and competition

🏆 Achieving a lifelong dream with an IndyCar victory

♿ Adjusting to life after a high-level spinal cord injury

🫁 Fighting to recover independent breathing after ventilator dependence

❤️ The power of family advocacy after a life-changing diagnosis

🏥 Challenging medical assumptions and seeking additional opinions

📣 Learning to advocate for more time, care, equipment, and rehabilitation

💵 Understanding the economics behind insurance decisions

🧠 Supporting mental health alongside physical neurorecovery

💪 Why activity-based rehabilitation can remain important long after discharge

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Recognizing how spinal cord injury affects the entire family

🤝 Relying on caregivers, colleagues, clinicians, and community

🏎️ Moving from professional driver to championship-winning team owner

📖 Finding meaning in Sam’s memoir, No Finish Line

🔥 Understanding the difference between passion and purpose

🧑‍🦽 Aging with quadriplegia and protecting long-term health

🚗 Using adaptive and semi-autonomous technology to drive again

⚙️ Creating customized solutions that help disabled people return to what they love

🌱 Expanding affordable access to neurorecovery and adaptive wellness

✨ Making the most of life without waiting for perfect circumstances

“It’s whatever it takes to get you out of bed. That’s what you’ve got to do.” ~ Sam Schmidt

“I’ve accomplished so much more the last 26 years being paralyzed than the previous 35 because I learned to rely on other people.” ~ Sam Schmidt

00:25 Meet Sam Schmidt

02:04 Racing Roots and Dreams

03:37 IndyCar Victory in Vegas

05:33 Crash and Diagnosis

07:16 Finding the Right Rehab

09:42 Advocacy and Insurance Hacks

15:34 Family Resilience Lessons

17:37 Disability Pride Invite

18:12 Work Ethic and Recovery

20:01 Aging With Disability

22:37 No Finish Line Book

24:07 Driven Neuro Mission

27:56 Purpose Over Passion

32:25 How to Get Involved

34:20 Future Tech and Mobility

35:12 Driving and Adventure Again

36:43 Make Schmidt Happen

37:31 Final Thanks and Wrap

Sam’s official website shares more about his racing career, memoir, speaking, adaptive technology, and work with DRIVEN Neuro. DRIVEN Neuro serves people living with spinal cord injuries and other neurological conditions through neurorecovery, adaptive wellness, research, resources, and community support.

🌐 Sam Schmidt’s Website: https://www.samschmidt.com/

📖 Buy No Finish Line: A Racer’s Journey of Passion, Perseverance, and Purpose: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/No-Finish-Line/Sam-Schmidt/9798895151617

🧠 Learn More About DRIVEN Neuro: https://drivenneuro.org/

💛 Support DRIVEN Neuro: https://drivenneuro.org/

🌐 Website: https://alyciaanderson.com/

🎙️ Podcast: https://alyciaanderson.com/podcast

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyciaanderson/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alyciaanderson/

Pushing Forward with Alycia gives disability a voice through conversations about accessibility, inclusion, ambition, resilience, leadership, advocacy, and creating a more inclusive world for all people.

Subscribe, like, share, and send this episode to someone who needs the reminder that there is no finish line when it comes to possibility, purpose, and pushing forward.

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Host Alycia Anderson welcomes Jessica Lopez, a disability rights advocate, keynote speaker, marketing strategist, and digital accessibility consultant working at the intersection of inclusive marketing, brand strategy, disability inclusion, accessible technology, and corporate accessibility. A recent Arizona State University graduate and Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholar, Jessica brings lived experience, business insight, and bold advocacy to conversations about accessible education, disability pride, inclusive hiring, digital accessibility, SEO, workplace inclusion, and why building accessibility from the start creates stronger brands, better customer experiences, and measurable business impact. 

Jessica shares her lived experience as a woman born without hands and feet, a hearing aid user, and someone who later developed a chronic illness that changed the course of her education. From growing up in performing arts school, riding horses through adaptive recreation, and learning confidence on stage, to navigating inaccessible education systems and eventually graduating after gaining access to online learning, Jessica’s story is a powerful reminder that disabled people are not limited by their bodies, but by systems that fail to adapt.

In this episode, Alycia and Jessica explore disability pride, accessible education, corporate inclusion, digital accessibility, inclusive marketing, career confidence, the ROI of accessibility, and what happens when companies stop assuming and start asking disabled people what they need.

♿ Disability identity, pride, and being born without hands and feet

🎤 Performing arts, confidence, and learning to take up space

🐎 Adaptive horseback riding as freedom, movement, and possibility

🦻 Navigating hearing loss, hearing aids, and visible disability

🏫 Inclusive education, school accommodations, and the power of the right support

💻 Online learning as accessibility, not convenience

⚖️ Systemic barriers in education and why access changes life trajectories

🌎 Travel, fellowships, and expanding what disabled ambition can look like

💼 Disability rights advocacy as a career path

🏢 Corporate accessibility, inclusive hiring, and leadership representation📲 Digital accessibility, accessible websites, alt text, SEO, and ROI

📣 Inclusive marketing and why disability must be built into brand strategy

👗 Accessible fashion, style, independence, and showing up polished

💛 Confidence for young disabled women chasing big dreams

✨ “Why not me?” as a mindset for opportunities, scholarships, speaking, and leadership

📈 Accessibility as a business advantage, not an extra cost

🤝 The power of asking disabled people directly what works for them

“My body was not the reason why I wasn’t able to do the things that I was hoping to do. It was really a result of a systemic barrier.” ~ Jessica Lopez

“I don’t feel like I’m missing anything. All of my limbs are the way they are.” ~ Jessica Lopez

“Accessibility is a bunch of small practices and small little things, and they add up to a massive turnaround on a big scale.” ~ Jessica Lopez

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:25 Meet Jessica Lopez

02:55 Horses And Freedom

06:44 Born Different Early Life

07:43 Performing Arts Confidence

13:00 Aides And Accommodations

14:16 Prosthetics And Identity

16:35 Chronic Illness School Barriers

19:53 Disability Pride Keynote Invite

21:34 Advocacy Career Path

23:31 How Corporations Can Partner

26:35 Accessibility ROI In Marketing

29:25 Style And Stage Presence

31:19 Advice Why Not Me

35:16 Accessibility In 2026

37:23 Pushing Forward Moment

38:27 Closing Thanks And Subscribe

🌐 Website: https://jessical.me

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realjessl

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realjessl

𝕏  Twitter/X: https://x.com/RealJessL

📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RealJessL 

🎙️ Podcast: https://alyciaanderson.com/podcast

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyciaanderson/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alyciaanderson/

Pushing Forward with Alycia gives disability a voice through conversations about accessibility, inclusion, ambition, resilience, leadership, and creating a more inclusive world for all people.

Subscribe, like, and share to help push the conversation forward.

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