Down to the Struts
By Qudsiya Naqui
Down to the StrutsJul 25, 2023
Libraries transform communities with ALA president Emily Drabinski
Qudsiya shared her love of libraries with Emily Drabinski, the president of the American Library Association. They chatted about ALA's innovative Libraries Transforming Communities program, which is dedicated to providing libraries with the tools and resources they need to be more accessible for people with disabilities, and to enhancing the capacity of small and rural libraries to address the needs of their communities.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Navigating crisis with Justice Shorter
Justice Shorter is a skilled organizer and facilitator, disability justice amplifier, and senior advisor on issues at the intersection of race, disability, gender, climate, and crisis. She is a national expert on disability inclusive, disaster protections, and emergency management.
And, she is a rare return guest on Down to the Struts. Justice joined the podcast in season one, alongside Conchita Hernandez Legorreta and Melissa Lomax for the episode WOC World, about an online community dedicated to uplifting and supporting blind women of color. On her second visit to the podcast, Justice talks to Qudsiya about her newly published Disaster Justice Guidebook for people of color with disabilities. The book weaves together storytelling, practical advice, and the collective wisdom of six phenomenal people to create a roadmap for environmental crisis response, rooted in and centered on the lived experiences of people of color.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Disabled entrepreneurs with Diego Mariscal
Diego Mariscal is the founder, CEO and Chief Disabled Officer of 2Gether-International (2GI), the leading nonprofit startup accelerator run by and for disabled entrepreneurs. A trailblazer at the intersection of advocacy and entrepreneurship, Diego joins Qudsiya to discuss his entrepreneurial origin story, how he started 2GI, and his advice for aspiring disabled entrepreneurs.
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Disability data justice with Bonnie Swenor
Down to the Struts welcomes disability equity researcher Bonnie Swenor for a conversation about one of Qudsiya's favorite topics: advancing data and research on the disability experience.
They dive into the early experiences that spurred Bonnie's love of science, how her disability journey impacted her pursuit of a career in public health, and using data to uplift the disabled scientists and researchers who contribute in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Disability glam at the GRAMMYs with Lachi
Award-winning recording artist and social entrepreneur Lachi joins Down to the Struts to talk about her love of music, and her vision for how disability culture can transform the music industry.
Lachi also tells Qudsiya about her experience hosting the pilot episode of Day Al-Mohamed's PBS Masters Series, Renegades. If you want to learn more about Renegades, head back to episode 2 of this season.
Finally, be sure to listen through to the end of this episode for a very special clip from Lachi’s incredible song Lift Me Up, produced in 2023 to honor the life and legacy of lifelong Disability Rights Advocate and Down to the Struts alum, Judy Heumann.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Putting the 'cool' in disability culture with Day Al-Mohamed
What is disability culture? Qudsiya is joined in conversation by author, filmmaker, and policy expert Day Al-Mohamed. They talk about Day's approach to transforming social and cultural attitudes about disability. Day sees this as a central tool that goes hand-in-hand with advancing policies that ensure rights and legal protections for disabled people. Day wants people to see disability culture as cool -- and Qudsiya thinks that’s a worthy objective too.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Loving Down to the Struts?
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Access: a love story
Season 8 kicks off with a very special first episode—a love story, just in time for Valentine's Day.
On August 19th, 2023, Qudsiya married the love of her life, Sean Collins, in a small celebration in Chicago. Listeners may remember hearing from Sean in the season 1 bonus episode Accessing the News, where he shared his gift of crafting vivid image descriptions to bring important news events to life for blind, low vision, and disabled news readers.
Qudsiya and Sean enlisted photographer Jasmine Oliver (J Lauryn Photography) and access artist Cheryl Green (Social Audio Description Collective), also a past Down to the Struts guest, to create an immersive accessible platform so they could forever cherish their wedding day both visually and through audio.
In this episode, Qudsiya, Jasmine, and Cheryl take a behind the scenes look at how they created the accessible wedding album, how the experience transformed Jasmine's perspective on her craft as a photographer, and the new possibilities for access art that Cheryl uncovered in the process.
Access is not just about having what we need as disabled people to equitably participate in things like work and education. It's equally about being a part of the moments in our lives that bring us joy, bonding us all in shared humanity, disabled and non-disabled alike.
In this episode, you will hear music from Qudsiya and Sean's wedding by Adrian Morris of Quartetto Solo, the song “Made of Gold” by Ibeyi, and “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michelson, performed by Qudsiya's niece, Zoha Hasan. Image descriptions were performed by Ramya Amuthan.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Loving Down to the Struts?
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Trailer: Season 8 coming soon
Season 8 of Down to the Struts is coming to your podcast feeds on Tuesday, February 13.
Listen now for a sneak peek into this season's interviews with disabled filmmakers, access artists, entrepreneurs, and scientists, all of whom are leveraging their disabled genius to create a more just, accessible, and inclusive world.
Music by Adrian Morris of Quartetto Solo.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Loving Down to the Struts?
Support the team behind the podcast with a donation.
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Let us know what you think in the Spotify Q+A, or leave a review on Apple podcasts.
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Getting to know Qudsiya Naqui
A bonus discussion between Down to the Struts host Qudsiya Naqui and friend and Getting Down To It editor, Avery Anapol. Get to know the voice, the history and the motivation behind the podcast.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Bonus: In the Country of the Blind with Andrew Leland
Qudsiya sits down with Andrew Leland, Author of the acclaimed new book, The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight, published this year by Penguin Press. The book was recently longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Nonfiction administered by the American Library Association, and Publisher’s Weekly named it among the best books of 2023.
Andrew’s book reminded Qudsiya of her own journey to, and through, the country of the blind. They talk about the contours of that space and its place in their lives, plus Andrew’s reflections on how writing the book has shaped his own relationship to disability and ableism.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Understanding What Is Unseen with Set Hernandez and Pedro
Qudsiya interviews Set Hernández and Pedro, two of the co-creators of the film Unseen. The film, directed and produced by Set, chronicles the multitudes of Pedro, an aspiring social worker, as he navigates life as an undocumented immigrant with low vision.
Pedro, Set, and Qudsiya talked about the shared experience that led them to create the film, the role of accessibility as a core value in the filmmaking process and the healing space that they hope unseen will generate as it touches audiences around the country and around the world. Qudsiya served as the impact producer for Unseen from 2022-2023. For more about the film, visit www.unseen-film.com.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Disability and climate justice with Áine Kelly-Costello
Qudsiya sits down with Áine Kelly-Costello, a multiply disabled storyteller, researcher and advocate based in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Their conversation covers Áine's research and work at the intersection of climate, migration and disability justice.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Going Beyond Awareness with Diana Pastora Carson
Qudsiya is joined by educator, author and diversity consultant Diana Pastora Carson. Diana and Qudsiya talked about Diana’s own journey to embracing disability inclusion as she battled to free her brother, Joaquin from long-term institutionalization so that he could live in his community. Diana also shared the tools she has developed to help parents, students, and educators practice disability inclusion.
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Exploring Disabled Power with Power Not Pity's Bri Joy Moore
Bri Joy Moore, host of the podcast Power Not Pity, joins Qudsiya to talk about the birth of the podcast, Bri’s growth as a poet, and Bri’s "disabled superpower". Be sure to listen all the way through for a special surprise from Bri.
For our younger listeners, please note that this episode does include some explicit language.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Disability News from Around the World with Peter Torres Fremlin
Qudsiya sits down with Peter Torres Fremlin, the author of the newsletter Disability Debrief, a project that brings together disability news and resources from over 125 countries around the world. Peter recounts his travels as an international disability rights expert, his own personal journey into disability identity, and gives us a behind the scenes look at Disability Debrief.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Creating space in politics with New Disabled South's Dom Kelly
Qudsiya speaks with Dom Kelly, the co-founder, President, and CEO of New Disabled South about the road that led him to political activism, the birth of New Disabled South, its grounding in the principles of disability justice, and its innovative regional organizing approach.
Visit our website for transcripts.
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Trailer: Season 7 coming soon
Check out this special sneak peek into the voices you’ll hear in Season 7, dropping into your feeds on August 8. Qudsiya is excited to get back down to it with everyone in a few short weeks!
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Alice Wong on Voice (from Ten Thousand Things)
Check out this amazing episode of Ten Thousand Things from our friends at KUOW in Seattle, featuring a meditation on voice from disability justice activist, oracle, and cyborg, Alice Wong.
Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai is an acclaimed podcast that amplifies heartfelt stories from Asian America. You should definitely check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you love to listen—and tell them we sent you!
To hear more from Alice Wong, check out Qudsiya's conversation with Alice in season 3, episode 1 of Down to the Struts.
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Remembering Judy Heumann: Reflections on the Disability Revolution
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Empowered Interdependence with Haben Girma
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Disabled Gaming with May Wong
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Disabled in Space with NASA’s Denna Lambert
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Empowering Disabled Refugees with Mustafa Rfat
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Embodying the Body with Bhavna Mehta
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Cripping Culture with Andraéa LaVant
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Down to the Struts Season 6 coming soon
If you're excited for the upcoming season, please spread the word by leaving a rating and review on Apple podcasts, tagging us @DownToTheStruts on social media, or sharing the podcast with a friend.
Bonus: Disability as Freedom (panel discussion)
Equal Justice Works is the nation's largest facilitator of postgraduate public interest law opportunities, creating opportunities for law students, lawyers and organizers to grow their passion for equal justice into a lifelong commitment to public service. The Leadership Development Training brings together hundreds of Equal Justice Works fellows each year to build the skills they need to become effective public service leaders. A community of leaders who are committed to public service can fulfill our nation's promise of equal justice for all.
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Disability and the creative process (with Michael A. Williams)
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Accessing employment opportunity (with Eli Dvorkin)
Qudsiya and Eli explore some of the reasons why disabled New Yorkers continue to struggle with job placement, despite a slow economic recovery and the role that policymakers and city government leaders can play to ensure that the city is leveraging the talents of and advancing economic mobility for its disabled residents. Eli also lifts up exemplary models from other cities around the country and urges greater investment in the well-being of disabled people as a cornerstone to building a more inclusive and accessible city for everyone.
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Change Makers (with Lou Paniccioli)
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Disability and the Federal Judiciary (with Mamadi Corra)
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All Our Families (with Jennifer Natalya Fink)
This is a powerful reflection that documents the erasure of disability from our family narratives, the damage that this can cause as we navigate our kinship ties, and how applying the principles of disability justice to bring our disabled ancestors back into our family lineage can help us hold our communities closer in webs of care.
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BONUS episode: Disability and Reproductive Freedom (w/ Sara Luterman)
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RAMPD up: music and disability (w/ Precious Perez)
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POD Access: survey for disabled podcasters
Trailer: Season 5 starts June 14
If you're excited for the upcoming season, please spread the word by leaving a rating and review on Apple podcasts, tagging us @DownToTheStruts on social media, or sharing the podcast with a friend.
Bonus: Just Human
Arielle tells Qudsiya about what led her to write Just Human, her own journey as a blind person, and how she's translated her rigorous research and personal experiences into a framework for disability inclusion.
Disabled Podcasters Unite!
Cheryl and Thomas tell Qudsiya about the early days of disabled podcasting and audio production; their creative process; and a new initiative they are launching in collaboration with the Disability Visibility Project to create a learning and collaboration hub for disabled podcasters and members of the disability community who want to pursue podcasting. They also discuss the power of the collective, and the failure of mainstream podcasting to capture the authentic voices and stories of disability.
Artificial Divide
Disabled in Court
Disability Solidarity
Sitting Pretty
Reflections on the Disability Revolution
Trailer: Season 4 coming soon
Accessing the Halls of Government
Stephanie shares her journey as a disabled scientist to the halls of Congress, how her experiences as a disabled person have informed her approach to public policy, and the need to break down barriers and expand opportunities for disabled people to inform the laws and policies that affect all of our daily lives.
Disabled reality: Survivor’s first deaf contestant
Access and Inclusion in the Workplace
Intersectionality and Algorithmic Bias
Making Voting Accessible
The Year of the Tiger
In their conversation, Alice tells Qudsiya what she’s learned about the visibility of the disabled experience in media and culture, and her desire to contribute to those narratives by telling her own story. They also discuss the need for more financial support for disabled creatives, as well as better representation in journalism and other media.