Mandi Alvarado

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 autonomy. We talk...

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 that aren’t...

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 neurodivergent people....