The Global Disability News Network Podcast: Accessible. Collaborative. Multimedia.

In this guest-hosted episode, Leah Smith sits down with Dr. Beth Haller, media scholar and co-founder of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (GADIM), to talk about how news and entertainment shape public perception of disability. Beth traces her path from print journalist to researcher, explains what the disability rights movement lost when it stepped away from the media after the ADA passed, and looks back at television history from Life Goes On to Designing Women. She also shares the story behind the Props No More documentary and the Global Disability News Network, and why media skills training matters for people with disabilities.

Chapters

0:00 Welcome and cold open

0:48 Introducing Dr. Beth Haller

2:35 From print journalist to disability media scholar

4:05 How the ADA story was lost in the media

6:10 Inside the newsroom: Bloom County and inspiration porn

9:14 Why media representation matters: Parenthood

13:00 Founding GADIM at the United Nations

15:30 Life Goes On and Chris Burke's self-advocacy

18:35 How the AIDS crisis reshaped TV storylines

25:10 Why disability stories deserve retelling

27:44 Building the Global Disability News Network and Props No More

31:58 One piece of advice for journalists

Links:

GADIM (Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment): Beth's organization and organization of behind the podcast https://gadim.org/

Props No More: GADIM's documentary and education platform. https://propsnomore.org/

Global Disability News Network: https://globaldisabilitynews.org/

Dr. Beth Haller: Beth's website, research, and CV. https://bethhaller.wordpress.com/

Disabled People Transforming Media Culture for a More Inclusive World - Beth's book discussed in the episode https://www.routledge.com/Disabled-People-Transforming-Media-Culture-for-a-More-Inclusive-World/Haller/p/book/9781032106625

BBC Chief North America Correspondent Gary O'Donoghue has covered Washington for over a decade, and he has done it as a blind journalist in a field that still assumes that is not possible. In this episode he talks with hosts Karina Sturm and Amy Zayed about breaking into daily news before anything was digitized, learning the grammar of television so a braille script does not distract the viewer, and the constant work of making each new platform usable. He also makes the case that listening, interpreting people, and putting them at ease make journalism a natural fit for blind reporters, and shares the advice he gave from the stage at the RTS Television Journalism Awards: “don't take no for an answer.” 

0:00 Welcome and self-descriptions

3:15 From blind football into journalism

7:42 Breaking into UK news before digitization

10:43 From reel-to-reel to TikTok: learning each new technology

15:58 Paddling furiously: the extra work nobody sees

17:56 Workarounds, AI, and screen-readers

19:48 Smart glasses, Aira, and the privacy debate

26:48 Should disabled journalists cover disability?

29:05 Learning the grammar of television

33:52 Why blindness can be a journalistic superpower

38:54 Covering America: the ADA and who's missing

45:55 Advice for the next generation

Gary O’Donoghue’s wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_O%27Donoghue

GADIM  Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment  https://gadim.org/  

Karina Sturm  https://www.karina-sturm.com/en/about-me-my-work/  

Amy Zayed https://leidmedien.de/amy-zayed/  

Peter White - The broadcaster Gary names as a trailblazer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_White_(broadcaster) .

RTS Television Journalism Awards 2025 - The award Gary references at the end of the episode https://rts.org.uk/article/rts-announces-winners-rts-television-journalism-awards-2025 

Coverage of Gary’s RTS win and his acceptance speech https://www.rsbc.org.uk/blogs/news/gary-o-donoghue-s-win-at-the-rts-television-journalism-awards 

Broadcaster, bestselling author, and advocate Sophie Morgan joins hosts Karina Sturm and Amy Zayed to talk about moving through the world on your own terms: travel writing, flying while disabled, and seeing ourselves reflected in the stores we shop in. Sophie shares how she fell into travel journalism, why she deliberately writes about luxury destinations to push the whole travel industry toward accessibility, and how broken wheelchairs led to her documentary Fight to Fly and the Rights on Flights campaign. You'll also hear the hosts' own airport stories, from sunflower lanyards to intersectional profiling, plus the story behind Sophie the Mannequin, the wheelchair-using mannequin she designed with Primark. If this conversation resonates, share it with someone who travels and tell us your own story in the comments.

Chapters

0:00 Welcome and audio descriptions

2:31 How Sophie became a travel writer

4:44 A car crash, a BBC expedition, and falling into TV

6:53 External and internalized ableism in broadcasting

11:57 “Have you always been such a badass?”

13:33 Why Sophie targets luxury travel: the trickle-down strategy

17:02 Broken wheelchairs, Fight to Fly, and Rights on Flights

22:38 Sunflower lanyards: help or forced label?

27:22 Flying while disabled and Arab: Amy's airport story

30:26 Karina's walkie-talkie ordeal in Egypt

32:24 Sophie the Mannequin and Primark's adaptive range

36:57 Disability's “brand problem” and telling your own story

Links

Sophie Morgan official website: https://www.sophiemorgan.com/ (TV presenter, author, artist, and advocate.)

Sophie Morgan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophlmorg/ (Follow Sophie's travel and advocacy work.)

Rights on Flights: https://rightsonflights.com/ (Sophie's campaign for accessible, dignified air travel.)

Sophie Morgan's Fight to Fly (Channel 4): https://www.channel4.com/programmes/sophie-morgans-fight-to-fly (Documentary exposing how airlines treat disabled passengers. [verify manually])

Driving Forwards, Sophie's memoir: https://www.amazon.com/Driving-Forwards-Resilience-Starting-Adversity/dp/0751582247 (A journey of resilience and empowerment after life-changing injury.)

Primark's wheelchair-user mannequin announcement: https://corporate.primark.com/en-gb/a/news/corporate-news/primark-unveils-new-mannequin-designed-to-represent-wheelchair-users (The launch of Sophie the Mannequin, co-designed with Sophie Morgan.)

GADIM (Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment): https://gadim.org/ (The organization powering the Global Disability News Network.)

Hidden Disabilities Sunflower: https://hdsunflower.com/ (The sunflower lanyard program discussed in the episode.)

Christiane Link, The Accessible Link: https://accessiblelink.substack.com/ (Newsletter on accessibility and travel by the journalist Amy mentions.)

Condé Nast Traveller: https://www.cntraveller.com/ (The travel magazine Sophie writes for.)

Fashion is one of the most visual industries in the world, so where does that leave blind and low-vision people? In this episode, hosts Karina Sturm and Amy Zayed talk with Anna Cofone, founder of the Hair & Care Project, about how hair, beauty, and style become powerful tools of identity, confidence, and belonging. Anna shares how her father's sight loss inspired her work, what really happens inside her accessible hair workshops, and how she's brought touch tours, audio-described runways, and even a blind model with her guide dog to London and Copenhagen Fashion Week. This conversation explores disability, self-expression, and who gets to feel seen. Watch, share, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

0:00 - Welcome to the Global Disability News Network

1:23 - Where Hair & Care began: Anna's father

4:03 - Style as identity and quiet coping

5:53 - Inside a Hair & Care workshop

8:15 - The ripple effect: community and confidence

9:52 - Amy's story: family, tailors, and Vivienne Westwood

15:14 - The 2019 moment that launched Hair & Care

18:52 - Training stylists to work with blind clients

23:11 - Styling a blind client: touch and description

25:44 - Making Fashion Accessible: touch tours and audio

31:44 - Lucy Edwards and Miss Molly walk the runway

37:02 - The industry's fear and the Purple Pound

43:23 - Heightened senses, personal style, and the 2029 vision

Link to full transcript: ⁠https://globaldisabilitynews.org/how-blind-and-low-vision-people-are-reclaiming-style-and-fashion-with-anna-cofone/⁠

Links

Hair and Care Project (Anna Cofone's organization)

https://www.hairandcareproject.com

Hair and Care Instagram

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

Making Fashion Accessible Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/makingfashionaccessible/

The Global Disability News Network

https://globaldisabilitynews.org

GADIM — Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment

https://gadim.org

Lucy Edwards (blind broadcaster/model in the runway story)

https://www.lucyedwards.com

Sinéad O'Dwyer (designer of the Copenhagen show Lucy Edwards walked)

https://sineadodwyer.com

Chet Lo (designer)

https://www.chetlo.com

Dating with a disability comes with a set of questions most apps never consider, from when to disclose to whether a community of your own means inclusion or separation. In this episode of the TGDNN Podcast, hosts Karina Sturm and Amy Zayed talk with Jacqueline and Alexa Child, the sisters who founded Dateability, a dating app made for disabled and chronically ill people. The conversation gets honest about ableism and the things people actually say, visible versus invisible disability, safety and devotees, internalized bias, and the real love stories that have come out of the app. Listen to the full conversation and tell us in the comments where you land on the separation versus inclusion question.

0:00 - Welcome and meet the founders of Dateability

2:11 - Why they created Dateability

4:10 - What makes Dateability different

5:54 - Searching by condition vs. broad categories

8:52 - Separation or inclusion: the big debate

15:01 - Media, representation, and changing stigma

17:02 - Visible vs. invisible disability and disclosure

22:30 - The audacity of ableism

28:13 - Keeping users safe: moderation, devotees, scams

32:49 - Inter-abled vs. disabled relationships

36:11 - Internalized ableism and self-worth

41:31 - Favorite Dateability love stories

Video available on Youtube

https://youtu.be/XpJ7B_IdoiI?si=QiRkguB1emE_pYVG

Dateability

https://info.dateabilityapp.com/

Dateability on the App Store

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dateability-disabled-dating/id6443474660Dateability on Google Play

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dateabilityappThe Global Disability News Network

https://globaldisabilitynews.org/Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (GADIM)

https://gadim.org/Karina Sturm (host, News Director of TGDNN)

https://www.karina-sturm.com/Amy Zayed (host and journalist)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyzayed/

New York Times editor and debut author Wendy Lu joins co-hosts Karina Sturm and Amy Zayed to talk about her middle-grade novel Casting April, a story about a 12-year-old girl with a tracheostomy tube who fights to prove she belongs in her school play. Wendy shares why she wrote the book she wished she'd had as a child, how publishing's challenges with the middle-grade market played into her path to Penguin Random House, and what it really means to write complex, nuanced characters with disabilities. The conversation ranges from the "disability gaze" in classrooms to the trauma parents carry, to what it's like building a career in disability journalism.

00:00 - Teaser

00:49 - Welcome to TGDNN + Introducing Wendy Lu

02:32 - What Casting April Is About

04:30 - Why Disability Representation in Kids' Books Matters

06:41 - The "Disability Gaze" and Classroom Experiences

12:41 - Balancing Disability as a Theme Without Overshadowing the Story

15:04 - The Road to Penguin Random House

19:05 - On Writing Complex Characters -- Not Just Villains

23:54 - Writing as a Coping Mechanism Since Childhood

27:01 - How All Three Hosts Found Their Way Into Journalism

30:52 - Overprotective Parents and Disability: A Universal Story

36:37 - Real Medical Emergencies and What They Do to a Family

44:24 - Career Highlights: Disabled Doctors and a Long Road to the Times

Links:

Full Transcript of Episode: https://globaldisabilitynews.org/i-wrote-the-disability-story-i-needed-as-a-child-nyt-editor-wendy-lu-on-her-novel-casting-april/

Casting April by Wendy Lu (Penguin Random House / Knopf Books for Young Readers) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

Wendy Lu's official author website https://www.wendyluwrites.com/

The Global Disability News Network (TGDNN) https://globaldisabilitynews.org/

GADIM -- Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment https://gadim.org/

National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ) -- Arizona State University https://ncdj.org/"

Disabled Doctors Were Called Too 'Weak' to be in Medicine" -- Wendy Lu's HuffPost story https://www.huffpost.com/entry/disabl...