Inside the Voices of Disability Economic Justice Project–with Emily Ladau

OFF-KILTER with Rebecca Vallas

For this week’s episode of Off-Kilter, Rebecca sat back down with Emily Ladau. She’s the editor of the Voices of Disability Economic Justice Project and the author of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally. She’s someone who’s done an immense amount throughout her career to shift narratives on disability in the United States and is a master storyteller whose many superpowers also include supporting other people in telling their stories. They had a far-ranging conversation about the Voices of Disability Economic Justice Project as it comes up on its one-year anniversary; why it’s so important for people with disabilities to get to tell their own stories; why storytelling is critical to policy and culture change; how she ended up on Sesame Street; why she wrote her book Demystifying Disability; and lots more.

Links from this episode:

• Check out Emily’s book Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally

• Follow Emily on Twitter/X @emily_ladau

• Learn more about the Voices project and how to write for it

• Here is the Off-Kilter episode feat. Emily with writer Alex Ashley Fox on the harms that come from autistic people being forced to mask at work, and here is Alex’s Voices piece