Meriah Nichols Talks About Disability

About Meriah Nichols Talks About Disability

where disability stories spark change

Publisher

Meriah Nichols

Category

education · health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Oct 2019

Latest episode

9 Aug 2025

Latest episodes

15 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Aug 2025

   Jose Rosario, Cool Cat; Voice from the Disability Community

   This is an interview with Jose Rosario, a bad ass activist, mental health therapist, super smart and fun guy who has somehow never watched Star Trek. It is a part of the Cool Cats: Voices from the Disability Community series, in which Meriah interviews cool people from the disability community so you can get to know them. Jose's "Short" Bio Born to young Puerto Rican parents, José Rosario developed Cerebral Palsy as a premature baby. His family's journey towards equity deeply impacted his mental health. Currently nearing his PhD in Clinical Psychology, his research focuses on cultural trauma in intersectional communities. He is an Interdisciplinary Minority Fellow for the American Psychological Association, member of the Congressional Diversity and Equality Advisory Board for Congressman James Langevin, and member of the Rhode Island Attorney General Community Advisory Board. He has been honored with the Chris Martin Humanitarian Award and the Victoria Lederberg Award for Excellence in Psychology. José is a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator helping business, nonprofits, and educational institutions to understand and implement identity-inclusive mental health protocols and culturally aware community healing. https://youtu.be/_ZgoUvAopKg An Interview with Jose Rosario, Cool Cat Meriah: [00:00:00] Okay. Welcome Jose. Thank you so much for joining me here on Unpacking Disability and, the Cool Cat Voices from the Disability Community Series where we try to. bring disability community together and introduce cool people from the cross-disability community of which you are definitely one. And thank you so much for being here. Jose: Thank you for having me. I'm so glad that we have a space to also show people with disabilities is not one note characters. We are complex. Meriah: Oh, absolutely. I'm wondering if you can take a minute to introduce yourself. Jose: Sure. Who am I? That's a great question. I am a speaker. I'm an activist. I'm also a therapist. I'm mental health therapist, and I'm a researcher. All of my work is about intersectional violence and how intersectional communities, queer bipoc folks, [00:01:00] queer, disabled folks react to violence and engage in healing. And so, I'm often thinking. About how folks are experiencing harm from various directions. And we don't just cower in fear. There are ways in which we pick ourselves up as a community and move forward. And so, wanting to bring that to light and support and affirm that as much as I can. Meriah: Wow. Thank you. There's so much I want to talk to you about. Yeah. So much. One of the things about the Cool Cat series is as I started this a long time ago,and I ask the same set of questions to everybody. And the point of that is really to emphasize the difference in our answers and how we are so very different. Like we're all coming to this with a lived experience and disability and we're so diverse. I think that's part of the beauty of everyone answering the same set of questions. Diving into those questions, [00:02:00] I am wondering what is your connection with disability? Jose: Oh, such an intimate connection, right? I have been disabled my entire life, and I recognize that disability is the one identity where it can happen anytime in your lifespan. So, all I know is my experience as a disabled person. I was born premature. A couple of months into birth, I stopped breathing and, acquired some brain damage, which led to my CP diagnosis. And so being in a wheelchair using canes like this has been a huge part of me. And I think for a long time there was this. Tension, right? The sort of like, why me aspect to this? Why am I different? What did I do? Why did I have to be this way? And I have very fortunately swung on the other side of the pendulum and been like, you know what? The way that I have to access the world, the way that I have to go into a space and be like,

2. 

   14 Jul 2025

   This is YOUR DISABILITY STORY: What Do You Want it To Say?

   This is an essay about perspective, choosing the stories we tell ourselves and the ways we wish to frame our own narrative. This was originally published in February 2020 but remains just as relevant today as it did then. I read the post in the video below, or listen to it through the podcast embedded. Options! https://youtu.be/9q4y1sDa7t0?si=GOjq2NsMya2w7vCZ I woke up feeling kind of crappy. My body felt old, I feel like I never have enough energy to do everything I want to do, and that bums me out. I have a mountain of things to do, and a lot of them include stuff like bill payment, but then the paint is flaking off the walls of my new house (- because the people who sold it to me did some kind of quick-fix paint thing and it's all falling off). I have to call to go to an audiologist, to make sure I'm really deaf, so I can qualify for a deaf tax credit. I have to call to take Mack to an audiologist because his teacher has concerns about his hearing. Bleh. All of this stuff is my Pile o' Life , and for sure, the longer I look at it, the bigger it all gets and the more tired I feel. But I'm not unique or alone in having a Pile o' Life! We all have it. It may or may not include disability. I can't choose the elements of the Pile o' Life very easily, but I can choose what I do with them, I choose how I feel about them, I choose what my focus will be. When I feel really crappy and overwhelmed by my Pile, I close my eyes and I think of my perfect world. I think of my world at it's best, what I dream of. I write out a story - a magical, fanciful story of the wonder of my life, of all the beauty that it has and holds and expounds. I write out this story of my world as my spirit sees it, not as the Pile sees it. Simply the act of doing this is transformative, empowering, a pivot, a game changer. Us Parents of Kids with Disabilities Have a LOT on Our Plates There are no ifs, ands or buts about this. I spent two solid weeks crying over my daughter's IEP; I spent another two solid weeks trying to figure out my son's 504 and if he was going to get one, or what. I spent a few days even grieving about my third kid potentially having one of the same disabilities as me - and I know I'm "not supposed" to grieve; it's supposed to be totally kosher and cool because I am a strong proponent of disability culture, right? But I DO grieve. I grieve because disability is a natural and normal part of the human experience and yet it's such a big fucking deal with people who don't understand it. I grieve because I don't want my kids to go through what I have. I grieve because while the personal experience of disability can be powerful and wonderful, public access and inclusion are royal pains in the ass. Us People with Disabilities Have a LOT on Our Plates There are no ifs, ands or buts about this. I have to fight for every.single.scrap of access that is thrown my way. I need to figure out how to stay strong and true to my spirit while wading through mires of C-PTSD and neurodivergence. I need to figure out how to remember anything when my brain wants to let loose. I need to figure out what is being said around me, because it's all a hushed mumble. I have constant, daily stress from the news and the threats of x, y and z being cut and I don't know what I"m going to do about any of it. I am exhausted from trying to explain how I "don't look" disabled but I sure as hell am, and that being disabled is not a bad thing. These Plates of Mine Are Full The plates, the Pile o' Life. All that stuff is real and there and like I said, the focus and feelings are my choices. So I sit down and write the new stories. I write stories of a world that we create that celebrates every person, ALL PEOPLE, that realizes and recognizes that we are all Beloved. I write stories that include my beautiful home, my gardens that feed and sustain both body and spirit,

3. 

   13 Jul 2025

   Why Do We Need to Feel Disability Pride?

   This is an answer to a question posed, "why do I need to feel pride in my disability? Isn't it enough that I accept my disability?" It will talk about disability pride, models of disability, sparkle sauce and glitter juice. You can watch me read the essay below, or listen on the podcast (it has been edited, but was originally published in July of 2022) Watch the Podcast Video of "Why Do We Need to Feel Pride in Our Disability" here: https://youtu.be/2Rlmm4FSCZc square pegs in a round hole world Listen to me read this by clicking the player below. Why Do We Need to Feel Disability Pride? Why do we need to feel disability pride at all? Doesn’t that feel slightly masochistic, feeling pride in something that has given us grief in our life? Feel pride over something that essentially “isn’t working” from a mainstream cultural perspective. As a friend said on Facebook, “isn’t it enough that I accept it? Why do I need to feel pride over it?” “Isn’t it enough that I accept it? Why do I need to feel pride over it?” Brene Brown wrote in Atlas of The Heart that pride is a feeling of pleasure or celebration related to our accomplishments or efforts. This is authentic pride, it’s positive and can be felt for ourselves and/or others. “I can feel proud of myself, proud of you, proud of us.” Pride is an emotional response or attitude to something with an intimate connection to oneself, due to its perceived value. Oxford defines it as "the quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one's own importance." Wikipedia Hubris, on the other hand, is “an inflated sense of one’s own innate abilities that is tied more to the need for dominance than to actual accomplishments.” It’s the negative piece that usually flavors the word, “pride,” and is not actually part of pride at all. To me, there are two things going on with using “pride” in connection with disability: there is the definition of pride itself and the negative taste it can leave in our mouths. And there is the confusion over feeling like we must feel pride over something that may have simply been something difficult for us in our lives. The Feelings Associated with Disability The feelings that we tend to feel growing up with disabilities are shame (feeling flawed, unworthy of love, belonging, connection), guilt (feelings of what we’ve done or failed to do, putting others out, been an inconvenience), humiliation (feeling belittled and put down), and embarrassment (feeling that we’ve done something that has made us uncomfortable, but is a fleeting and relatable experience). These feelings plug in to the medical model of disability (that disability needs to be fixed), and they make perfect sense when viewed through that lens. We feel guilt our families have to go out of their ways to accommodate us, guilt that everyone in our class must wait, bored, while the teacher tries to figure out how to enable the closed captions in our Zoom session. We feel shame in who we are when we see ourselves through the lens of the medical model, that we need to be fixed, made “well”, that our edges of our square pegs need to be shaved off to fit in the round holes of the world. Read: Square Pegs in a Round Peg WorldThe power of the neurodivergent The Social Model of Disability The social model of disability, however, sees disability as a natural and normal part of the human experience. From the social model of disability, it’s the culture that we live in that’s the problem, and culture can be changed. Culture is a living expression, it’s fluid, it can transform. Shaving off our square pegs to fit in the round holes of the world, a’la Medical Model of Disability, is a travesty from the viewpoint of the Social Model of Disability, as it removes all juju, the mojo, the good sauce that disability brings with it. It’s like a giant vacuum cleaner hose, sucking up the glitter that also makes up disability.

4. 

   21 Jun 2025

   Spotlight On: Elevatus and Sexual Education Trainings

   Katherine McLaughlin of Elevatus Training discusses sexuality education for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, highlighting the importance of body autonomy and dispelling common misconceptions in this interview.

5. 

   12 Jun 2025

   You Ask, I Answer: What is Disability Justice?

   Meriah Nichols defines disability justice as a cultural movement for liberation that differs from disability rights by focusing on intersectionality and community to help disabled people thrive.

6. 

   6 Jun 2025

   Embracing Our Fabulous Selves: A Journey Through Disability Rights and Justice

   Disability rights advocate Corbett O'Toole shares experiences from the disability rights movement and the importance of fighting for disability rights, access, and respect in an interview.

7. 

   5 Jun 2025

   On the Edge of High School: Moxie’s Next Big Step

   Meriah Nichols shares Moxie's transition to high school within the General Special Ed program, highlighting both the challenges and hopes for her continued educational journey as a student with Down syndrome in Hawai'i; this is a personal reflection.

8. 

   4 Jun 2025

   iPhone Native Speech-to-Text for the ADHD Deafie (Yes! That’s Me!)

   Meriah Nichols discusses the benefits of using iPhone's native speech-to-text app, Live Captions, and Google Live Transcribe for Android, highlighting how built-in accessibility tools support individuals with hearing loss and ADHD.

9. 

   3 Jun 2025

   Breathing Back from Ableism

   Meriah Nichols discusses internalized ableism, which involves the devaluation and shame that disabled individuals often internalize due to societal biases, and shares grounding techniques for self-acceptance in this interview.

10. 

    30 May 2025

    Lance Kamaka, Cool Cat; Voice from the Disability Community

    Meriah Nichols interviews Lance Kamaka, a deafblind musician, about his experiences navigating the world with disabilities and adapting to hearing loss, highlighting his resilience and unique perspective in this interview.

11. 

    26 May 2025

    This Ache Has a Name

    Meriah Nichols shares a personal reflection on the current political climate, discussing feelings of fear, anger, and paralysis in response to systemic injustices and capitalistic myths.

12. 

    9 Nov 2024

    Resources to Explain Death and Grief to Person with Down Syndrome or Intellectual Disability

    This is an article with resources to explain grief and loss to anyone with an intellectual or developmental disability, but focuses on explaining grief to people with Down syndrome. It has been updated from the original, published in June 2020. In 2016, my children were with me when my Grandpa Jack died. One month later, they were in the room as I held one of my Grandma Jean's hands and my brother Dana held my Grandma's other hand as she took her last breath and died. 6 months later, they were with me as my brother Dana died. One year later, we had to deal with the loss of our family, their Dad leaving and the disruption of their world, moving from California to Hawai'i. Through both physical death and real life transitions that birthed a grieving process, my children have had experience in the ways of grief and loss. That includes my daughter with Down syndrome. Assumptions About People with Down syndrome, Grief and Loss I think there is an assumption that people with intellectual disabilities do not understand death. I know that when I had to explain death and loss to my daughter with Down syndrome, I wondered if she understood what I was saying. Death seems like such an abstract concept, after all, and abstract concepts are not usually favored by people with Down syndrome. But she did understand. Death was much easier for her to grasp than it was or has been to process grief. I'll talk a little more about that in that the next section, but first, just sticking with death and explaining death. Books to Help Explain Death to a Person with an Intellectual Disability We read books to help explain and process the passing of my brother and grandparents. Especially for the passing of my brother, because while my kids were able to be there with the passing of my grandparents, they did not see my brother while he was in the ICU. It was like he was there one day, vital, laughing, tossing them up in the air, and the next, nowhere. Just gone. The Mountains of Tibet The Little Soul and the Sun: A Children's Parable A Hug from Heaven Primary Rating: 3.5 Primary Rating: 3.5 Primary Rating: 3.5 $7.68 $20.00$14.43 $12.99 Buy Now

13. 

    5 Jul 2024

    Updated: The Disability Pride Flag

    the disability pride flag: what it represents, who it's for

14. 

    1 Jul 2024

    Pride is a Protest: The Radical Act of Cultivating Disability Pride

    This is about developing disability pride and disability pride being a protest. This was originally published in July, 2022, updated in July 2024. You can listen to me read it by clicking the player below, or subscribing to my podcast on Spotify or iTunes. Patrons can download the pdf for this. Become a Patron! Disability Pride is a Protest When you are continuously told by your culture, language, history, school, work and/or family that you need to fit your square pegged self into a round pegged world, need to conform, change, therapize essential aspects of who you are – shame is the consequence. You feel shame in all that you need to change, all that you seem to embody. You are representing the broken, the inept, the weak, the ugly, the mocked. To even hint of feeling pride over all the things you have been taught to feel shame over is a radical act. To feel proud that you can’t hear? Of your deafness? Proud of what, Down syndrome? Proud of being neurodivergent? Proud of whatever condition you have that sent you in for therapy or an IEP or IPE or funky medical gadgets that made you feel like a freak in the cafeteria? To feel pride in any of that can see delusional or masochistic. And pride can also be a profound statement of protest. To claim, say or feel pride in all that we’ve felt shame over is a daring protest to the culture, language, history, school, work and/or family that told us we should feel that way about ourselves. It’s a fundamental refusal to buy-in to the shame anymore. It’s a call out to dig in even deeper: this is me; I am valid. I am worthy. Whether or not my culture, language, history, school, work, and/or family believe it, I have a right to be here. Pride is radical. Pride is powerful. Pride is a protest. And like Laura Hershey said, we get proud by practicing. Some of us have spent a lifetime, decades, of trying to cover up our hearing aids, walk without a limp, mask our neurodivergence. Some of us have spent years in cubicles, offices, with people giving us treats to change the way we talk, move, express, or feel so that we can better conform within our culture. Some of us have already given in to all that we could to self-soothe, self-medicate, ease the raging internal pain – because nothing hurts so much as feeling so unwanted, broken, inept, ugly, mocked. Feeling pride in those circumstances is monumental, an enormous reach, a leap of Everest-worthy proportions. How do you do it? How can it even be done? We get proud by practicing- Laura Hershey We get proud by trying. One step at a time. One piece at a time. Bit by bit. Little by little. Inch by inch. It’s a massive unlearning, a fundamental shift in our understanding of the world and our claim to space within it. Those of us with the decades of shame internalized within us, it’ll probably take a little more consciousness and practice. Which doesn’t mean that for those of you who are still coming up in the world it will be much easier – it may not, it may still require a great deal of conscious thought and practice to shift your internal compass and feelings about yourself. But the first thing to do is to start with the awareness. Learning to Run "Why Bother?" She Asked The Impact of Disability on Siblings: The Story of Dana & Meriah Let Down syndrome Define You: A Letter to My Daughter Tell Me Why Why Frida Kahlo Remains Relevant Choosing Moxie The Influence of Disability Within My World I Never Knew I Wanted a Child with Down syndrome Until I Had One

15. 

    8 Oct 2019

    Disabled Moms Interview Project: DeafBlind Mom Lisa Ferris

    Disabled Moms Interview Project featuring DeafBlind mom, Lisa Ferris

Who has been a guest on Meriah Nichols Talks About Disability

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Katherine McLaughlin
• Corbett O'Toole
• Lance Kamaka

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