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Is disability a tragedy? Are disabled people “inspiring”? The language we use often reveals our assumptions about disability. Carrie Hahn, a pediatric speech-language pathologist and mother, joins me on the podcast to talk about her book Beyond Inclusion: How to Raise Anti-Ableist Kids.

Maybe you feel like our culture is too full of language police and that we should just move on to more important things. Or maybe you worry that you'll never get your words right. Whether you feel cynicism or despair, this conversation is for you.

Carrie's stories and suggestions offer ALL of us a way to put a reimagined life into practice. We discuss:

• The complexities of navigating ableism
  
  
• How to cultivate inclusion and belonging one word at a time
  
  
• Ways to respond when we get the language wrong
  
  
• Why recognizing individuality matters
  
  
• Simple tips to make spaces more welcoming and accessible

REIMAGINING FAMILY LIFE WITH DISABILITY WORKSHOP
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ON THE PODCAST:

• Beyond Inclusion: How to Raise Anti-Ableist Kids by Carrie Hahn
• Stella Young
• A Disability History of the United States by Kim E. Nielsen
• REIMAGINING FAMILY LIFE WITH DISABILITY WORKSHOP

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CONNECT with Carrie Hahn on her website (informdisability.com), Facebook (@informspeechandlanguage), and Instagram (@carriecch80)
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WATCH this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.
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ABOUT:

Carrie Hahn is a pediatric speech-language pathologist and mother. She has served children of a variety of ages in a variety of settings and has taken on additional endeavors of interest, such as an autism support group for caregivers, the distribution of a parent education newsletter, and giving talks at conferences for family advocacy groups. She creates and shares content related to disability and neurodivergence on her website and social media and uses her platform to promote education and advocacy. Hahn is the mother of two neurodivergent children, one of whom also has physical disabilities. Her book ‘Beyond Inclusion: Raising Anti-Ableist Kids” came out in July of 2024. Carrie’s professional and personal lives have intensified her passion for making a safer and less ableist world.
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"Just try harder. Work harder. Think harder." But what if the key to creativity, whether that’s in our art or in the art of our daily lives, isn’t more effort but surrender? Carey Wallace, artist and author of The Discipline of Inspiration, joins Amy Julia Becker to talk about:

• How discipline and spiritual practices nurture inspiration
  
  
• The role of surrender in the creative process
  
  
• How all humans can explore their creative potential and embrace the joy of creation
  
  
• Art as a communal experience
  
  
• How the discipline of inspiration empowers meaningful change in our world that is good and mutually beneficial

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REIMAGINING FAMILY LIFE WITH DISABILITY WORKSHOP
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ON THE PODCAST:

The Discipline of Inspiration by Carey Wallace

Image Seminar: The Discipline of Inspiration (a five-week craft workshop)

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport

Jon Batiste interview on Fresh Air

Once a Queen: A Novel by Sarah Arthur

Once a Castle by Sarah Arthur

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CONNECT with Carey Wallace on her website (disciplineofinspiration.org), Instagram (@disciplineofinspiration), or Facebook (@disciplineofinspiration).

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WATCH this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Carey Wallace is the author of The Discipline of Inspiration (Eerdmans), The Blind Contessa’s New Machine (Penguin), and The Ghost In The Glass House (Clarion). She works to help people from all walks of life find inspiration and build strong creative habits to sustain a lifetime of creation. She performs as a songwriter, exhibits her own fine art, and has spoken on art, faith, and justice with students at Princeton, Julliard, Emory, Pratt, and Yale. Her articles and poems have appeared in Time, Detroit’s Metro Times, and America. She is the founder of a retreat for artists in Michigan, and the Discipline of Inspiration creative habit formation program, which has been in operation for over a decade across the US and internationally. She grew up in small towns in Michigan, and lives and works in Brooklyn.
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How do we attend to diverse voices in our churches and society without silencing or patronizing each other? Author and professor Esau McCaulley, PhD, joins Amy Julia Becker to discuss The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Bible Commentary. They talk about:

• the importance of connecting church and culture
  
  
• the insights provided by scholars from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities
  
  
• the harm caused by limiting biblical interpretation to a Western-centric lens
  
  
• the role of the church in today's society
  
  
• the transformative power of listening and learning from each other

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AMY JULIA'S Books
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ON THE PODCAST:

NYT essays by Esau McCaulley

The Esau McCaulley Podcast

Reading While Black: book; podcast episode

How Far to the Promised Land: book; podcast episode
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CONNECT with Dr. McCaulley on his website (esaumccaulley.com) and on social media (@esaumccaulley)
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Watch this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.
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ABOUT:

Esau McCaulley, PhD, is an author and The Jonathan Blanchard Associate Professor of New Testament and Public Theology at Wheaton College. His writing and speaking focus on New Testament Exegesis, African American Biblical Interpretation, and Public Theology. He has authored numerous books including, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, which won numerous awards including Christianity Today’s Book of the Year. Esau also served as the editor of New Testament in Color: A Multi-Ethnic Commentary on the New Testament.

On the popular level, Esau’s recent memoir, How Far to the Promised Land, was named by Amazon as a top five non-fiction book of 2023. He has also penned works for children, including Josey Johnson’s Hair and the Holy Spirit and Andy Johnson and the March for Justice. Esau is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and senior editor for Holy Post Media as well as the host of a new podcast with the Holy Post. His writings have appeared in places such as The Atlantic, Washington Post, and Christianity Today.
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How do we decide who has a life worth living? Author and professor emerita Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, PhD, joins Amy Julia Becker to discuss what it means to:

• be human
  
  
• live in community
  
  
• care for one another
  
  
• navigate the complicated ethics of selective abortion
  
  
• find the language and stories to talk about a life worth living

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ADVENT DEVOTIONAL: Prepare Him Room: Advent Reflections on What Happens When God Shows Up

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ON THE PODCAST:

Plough essay: “The Body She Had” by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson

Book: About Us: Essays from the New York Times about Disability by People with Disabilities

Sara Hendren’s episode: “Who Belongs? Disability and the Built World”
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CONNECT with Dr. Garland-Thomson on her website: rosemariegarlandthomson.com
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Watch this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.
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About:
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is professor emerita of English and bioethics at Emory University. She works in disability culture, bioethics, and health humanities. She is a Hastings Center Senior Advisor and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is co-editor of About Us: Essays from the New York Times about Disability by People with Disabilities and author of Staring: How We Look and several other books.
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Political divides don't just disappear after elections. If you long for a hopeful way forward, this conversation is for you. Pastor Corey Widmer talks with Amy Julia Becker about how to navigate political polarization with humility, love, and a commitment to Jesus' way of life.

Corey and Amy Julia discuss:

• Political engagement and identity formation
  
  
• The dangers of political idolatry and hyperindividualism
  
  
• How to embody love and curiosity in political discourse
  
  
• Living out the way of Jesus in a polarized world
  
  
• How to respond to the election results

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FREE DOWNLOAD: 5 Ways to Experience God's Love and Practice Peace
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ON THE PODCAST:

Sermon on the Mount

The Beatitudes

Rich Villodas on the podcast

The AND Campaign

How to Be Christian in the Election | White Paper

How to Be Christian in the Election | Sunday School series

The Good Life of the Kingdom | Sermon

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Watch this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.
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Guest Bio:

Rev. Corey Widmer is Senior Pastor of Third Church, a Presbyterian congregation in Richmond, VA. A graduate of University of Virginia and Princeton Theological Seminary, he also has a Ph.D. in theology from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Corey is married to Sarah, a public health nurse, and they have 4 teenage daughters. Corey loves reading, exploring the outdoors, and pickleball!
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What freedom could we offer one another as humans if we weren’t so stuck on the "treadmill of achievements and quantified learning"? Pepper Stetler, PhD, is the author of A Measure of Intelligence: One Mother's Reckoning with the IQ Test. She joins Amy Julia Becker on the podcast to share her personal journey navigating the world of IQ testing with her daughter Louisa, who has Down syndrome. Amy Julia and Dr. Stetler explore:

• the historical roots of these intelligence assessments
  
  
• IQ testing's societal implications
  
  
• the ethical dilemmas the tests present for parents and educators
  
  
• how IQ tests shape our understanding of intelligence and the pursuit of a fulfilling life
  
  
• ways to challenge conventional notions of achievement and success

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Noonday Lucky Few bracelet (in celebration of Down Syndrome Awareness month): https://noondaycollection.com/products/lucky-few-bracelet
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On the Podcast:

A Measure of Intelligence: One Mother's Reckoning with the IQ Test by Pepper Stetler

Alfred Binet

DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

Henry Goddard

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Connect with Dr. Stetler on her website (pepperstetler.com) or X (@PepperStetler).

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Watch this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.

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The way we tell the stories of our past plays a crucial role in shaping our imagination for the future. Author and historian Jemar Tisby, Ph.D., insists in his work that we tell a fuller story of our past, especially when it comes to the history of race and justice within the United States. Jemar joins Amy Julia Becker to discuss his latest book, The Spirit of Justice. Their conversation includes:

• The persistent spirit of justice in the Black Christian experience in America
• The historical and ongoing struggles against racism
• How faith and storytelling fuel resilience and hope

Amy Julia's book:
White Picket Fences: Turning toward Love in a World Divided by Privilege

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Guest Bio:

Jemar Tisby, PhD, is the author of new book The Spirit of Justice, and he also wrote the New York Times bestselling The Color of Compromise, and the award-winning How to Fight Racism. He is a historian who studies race, religion, and social movements in the twentieth century and serves as a professor at Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically Black college.
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Connect Online with Dr. Tisby:

Website: https://jemartisby.com/ | Instagram | Facebook | Substack/Newsletter
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On the Podcast:

• The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance by Jemar Tisby
• The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
• Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
• Amy Julia’s previous conversations with Jemar:
  S5 E10 | How Kids Can Fight Racism with Jemar Tisby, PhD
  S4 E1 | How Do We Fight Racism? with Jemar Tisby
  S3 E6 | Now Is the Time for Justice with Jemar Tisby

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TRANSCRIPT here
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YouTube video here with closed captions
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Let’s Reimagine the Good Life together. Find out more at amyjuliabecker.com.

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What does it mean to be human? Who counts as a human being and why? Anthropologist Tom Pearson has been asking these questions for a living for a long time, and then his daughter was born and diagnosed with Down syndrome, prompting him to ask the questions all over again in his book An Ordinary Future.

Amy Julia and Tom discuss:

• Normalcy, disability, and the human experience
• Cultural perceptions of disability and the historical context of eugenics and institutionalization
• How prenatal testing influences societal views of disability
• Interdependence and its relationship to the human experience
• The ways disability is a source of innovation and community, not just an inevitability

FREE RESOURCE: 10 Ways to Move Toward a Good Future {especially for families with disability}

Guest Bio:

Tom Pearson is a cultural anthropologist with wide-ranging interests in the fields of environmental justice and disability studies. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where he also chairs the social science department. His writing has appeared in numerous scholarly journals and other public outlets. The birth of his daughter Michaela and her diagnosis with Down syndrome thrust him into an unfamiliar world of disability and difference. His book An Ordinary Future: Margaret Mead, the Problem of Disability, and a Child Born Different examines this experience in relation to Margaret Mead's path to disability rights activism. It confronts the dominant ideas, disturbing contradictions, and dramatic transformations that have shaped our perspectives on disability over the last century.

Connect Online:

Website | Twitter

On the Podcast:

• Washington Post: A mystery illness stole their kids’ personalities. These moms fought for answers.
• An Ordinary Future: Margaret Mead, the Problem of Disability, and a Child Born Different by Thomas Pearson

TRANSCRIPT: amyjuliabecker.com/tom-pearson/

YouTube Channel: video with closed captions

Let’s Reimagine the Good Life together. Find out more at amyjuliabecker.com.

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