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Beyond Beautiful: Disability, Liberation, Love Season 2, Episode 9 - Beyond Litigation 🎧  Listen to the Episode 🧭   Episode Summary For this International Women's Day, I sat down with Bryanna Copeland  — a mom, Master of Social Work student, Miss Wheelchair New York participant, and disability advocate who shares her lived experience navigating motherhood, higher education, and public spaces as a wheelchair user. Bryanna speaks openly about her experience as a Black disable

Beyond Beautiful: Disability, Liberation, Love Season 2, Episode 8 - Beyond the Voice 🎧  Listen to the Episode 🧭   Episode Summary In this episode of Beyond the Voice , I interview Ceslie Martinico, a 30-year-old blogger living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type I, diagnosed at just six months old. Ceslie communicates using a Tobi Dynavox device, and our conversation invites listeners to slow down, listen differently, and challenge assumptions about voice, intelligence, and

Beyond Beautiful: Disability, Liberation, Love Season 2, Episode 7 - Beyond the Surface 🎧  Listen to the Episode 🧭   Episode Summary In this episode, I'm joined by Stephanie Garrett for an honest and compassionate conversation about living with non-apparent disabilities and the grief that can accompany them. Diagnosed with hypothyroidism at 14 and later with hypopituitarism and adrenal insufficiency, Stephanie has spent decades navigating autoimmune and endocrine conditions

Beyond Beautiful: Disability, Liberation, Love Season 2, Episode 6 — Beyond the Capacity Myth 🎧  Listen to the Episode 🧭  Episode Summary In this episode, Mandi joined by Preston Burger to challenge a belief that shapes so much of our culture: the idea that our worth is tied to productivity, independence, and output. Together, we unpack how the “capacity myth” shows up in education, employment, and relationships — and how it disproportionately impacts disabled and neurodive

Beyond Beautiful: Disability, Liberation, Love Season 2, Episode 5 — Beyond Culture 🎧  Listen to the Episode 🧭  Episode Summary In  Beyond Culture , Mandi is joined by Urmi Hossaim - author, speaker, podcast host, and finance professional - for a rich conversation about identity, third-culture experiences, and the quiet labor of self-definition. Together, they explore culture through a disability justice-informed lens, unpacking how systems, norms, and expectations impact w

Beyond Beautiful: Disability, Liberation, Love Season 2, Episode 4 — Beyond Employment 🎧  Listen to the Episode 🧭  Episode Summary Beyond Employment challenges traditional narratives about work and disability. In this episode, host Mandi is joined by disability employment advocate and employment specialist Steven Robles to explore what meaningful, accessible employment truly looks like for disabled people. Together, they unpack harmful myths about productivity, examine syst

Beyond Beautiful: Disability, Liberation, Love Season 2, Episode 3 - Beyond Boundaries 🎧 Listen to the Episode 🧭  Episode Summary In this episode, Mandi sit down with Jasmine “Jazzy” Ramos—an advocate, community builder, and social work student whose work is rooted in the belief that liberation begins with sincere belonging. Together, we explore how boundaries show up in disabled lives—socially, emotionally, and systemically—and how community, love, and pride can be acts o

This episode explores the lived experience of disabled parenting through an honest and heartfelt conversation with Charlianne Alexander. In this episode, Charlianne shares the challenges she has navigated, the joy she has found in motherhood, and what she hopes her children carry with them as they grow. Together, we reflect on how disability and parenthood intersect, challenge harmful assumptions, and affirm disabled parents as capable, loving, and deeply present.

Mandi speaks with Amar Sharif about disabled sexuality, body autonomy, and the systems that deny disabled people access to pleasure and care.