Digital portrait of Alice Wong, an Asian person smiling. She is wearing a trach at her neck and wearing a crew neck blouse. She is sitting in her power wheelchair. There is a cream colored circle crown on a purple background. Artist credit: Jen White-Johnson
Alice Wong by Jen White-Johnson

Disability Visibility: Stories and Podcasts

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Introduction

Alice Wong (she/her) is a disabled activist, media maker, and consultant based in San Francisco. She is the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing and amplifying disability media and culture.

Alice launched the Disability Visibility podcast in 2017 as host, co-audio producer, and writer. Her podcast features conversations on politics, culture, and media with disabled people. If you’re interested in disability rights, social justice, and intersectionality, this show is for you.

Alice is also a writer and editor of multiple books featuring stories and essays by people with disabilities. You can find her here:

Read Books

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century

‘Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the 21st Century Edited by Alice Wong’ the book cover has overlapping triangles in a variety of bright colors with black text overlaying them and an off-white background.

Disability Visibility (Adapted for Young Adults): 17 First-Person Stories for Today

Book jacket designed by Angela Carlino of DISABILITY VISIBILITY: 17 First-Person Stories for Today adapted for young readers edited by Alice Wong. The cover has thin vertical gray lines with overlapping geometric shapes in green, blue, magenta, yellow and purple.

Resistance and Hope: Essays by Disabled People

Illustration by artist Micah Bazant featuring a midnight blue sky with little white stars. Below is a log with mushrooms growing out of it in multiple shapes and colors. Text reads: ‘Resistance & Hope, Essays by Disabled People, Crip Wisdom for the People, Edited by Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Project.’ The o in ‘Hope’ looks like a full moon.

Edited by Alice Wong, Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project, Resistance and Hope will transform the way you think about activism, leadership, and social justice.

How do we fight back in an era of uncertainty, institutionalized cruelty, and widespread tolerance for ableism and hate? Written in 2017, the authors explore resistance, hope, self care, disability rights and justice, and the politics of Trump in a series of provocative, challenging essays.

Dare to dream bigger and create space for all with this visionary essay anthology from multiply marginalized disabled people redefining an inclusive climate of resistance.

Listen to Podcasts

There are many episodes – here is a selection related to activism, advocacy and social change.

Ep 1: Activism and the Disability Community with Gregg Beratan and Andrew Pulrang

The guests for this episode are Andrew Pulrang and Gregg Beratan, co-partners in Crip The Vote, an online movement encouraging the political participation of disabled people. This episode was recorded late July 2017, days after the GOP healthcare bill died in the Senate. We look back at the attempt to repeal and replace the ACA, what Medicaid means to disabled people, and the activism that took place all year long in opposition to the bill, especially the activism by ADAPT, a national grassroots disability rights group that was instrumental in creating what Representative John Lewis calls ‘good trouble.’

Transcript – [Google doc]        [PDF]

Ep 12: Advocacy, Intersectionality and Mental Health with Victoria Rodríguez-Roldán

This episode is on advocacy, intersectionality & mental health with Victoria Rodríguez-Roldán, Director of the Trans/Gender Nonconforming Justice Project and the Disability Justice Project at the National LGBTQ Task Force. Victoria and Alice have a conversation about social justice, the politics of hypervisibility, the toxic aspects of activism, transgender mental health, and healthcare discrimination, and more.

Transcript – [Google doc]     [PDF]

Ep 24: Disability Justice and Community Organizing with Sarah Jama

This episode is about activism, disability justice and community organizing. My guest is Sarah Jama, an organizer focused on disability justice and anti-racism based in Hamilton, Ontario. You’ll hear how Sarah became an activist and the various approaches she uses in her work. Sarah talks about how she learned about disability justice and why this framework resonates with her. You’ll also hear Sarah describe some of the major issues facing Canadians with disabilities.

*Please note there will be discussions of eugenics, sexual assault, violence, and institutionalization.

Transcript – [Google doc]     [PDF]

Ep 37: Political Participation with Reyma McCoy McDeid and Sarah Funes

This episode is about political participation featuring interviews with two disabled activists. First, I speak with Reyma McCoy McDeid, Executive Director of the Central Iowa Center for Independent Living in Des Moines and a former candidate for state legislature. Next, I speak with Sarah Funes, a recent graduate of UC Berkeley who is very active with get out the vote efforts locally in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Both Reyma and Sarah discuss what political participation means to them. Reyma shares her experiences running for office in Iowa and the importance of creating structural changes to encourage more disabled people to consider running. Sarah talks about her activism during her time as a college student at UC Berkeley and her current work increasing voter turnout and registration.

Transcript – [Google doc]     [PDF]

Ep 55: Self Advocacy with Finn Gardiner and Noor Pervez

There are all kinds of advocacy within the disability community. Self advocacy is one unique type that is grounded in a movement, history, and community of people. Today we’re going to explore what self advocacy is with two people who identify as self-advocates: Noor Pervez and Finn Gardiner. You’ll hear Noor and Finn talk about how they first learned about the self advocacy movement and what it meant to them to be self advocates.

Transcript – [Google doc]     [PDF]

Ep 68: Accessibility with Shannon Finnegan

This episode is about accessibility with Shannon Finnegan, a multidisciplinary artist making work about disability culture and access. In 2018, Shannon received a Wynn Newhouse Award and participated in Art Beyond Sight’s Art + Disability Residency. Last year, she was a resident at Eyebeam. Shannon will share about what access means to her and her work as a disabled artist interrogating access and ableism.

Transcript – [Google doc]     [PDF]

Ep 79: Disabled Candidates with Amanda Siebe

For the last four years I’ve been a co-partner #CripTheVote which is an online movement encouraging the political participation of disabled people. Getting involved can mean voting, volunteering, attending a public meeting, or running for office. Learning about the issues counts too. Today’s episode features a conversation with Amanda Siebe, a disabled candidate who ran for a Congressional House seat representing District one in Oregon. Please note that Amanda and I spoke last year before the recent May primary. Unfortunately Amanda was not elected as the candidate for the Demcratic general election but you will hear about her experiences running for office, her platform, and why political change and representation is so important.

Transcript – [Google doc]     [PDF]

Ep 87: Climate Action with Kera Sherwood-O’Regan

This episode is on climate action with Kera Sherwood-O’Regan, an indigenous multidisciplinary storyteller and activist based in Aotearoa, also known as New Zealand. Kera’s work and activism centers structurally oppressed communities in social change, and crosses the intersections of indigenous & disability rights, health, and climate change. Kera will share about her involvement in climate activism and its intersections with disability and indigenous activism and why climate movements must center indigenous and disabled people.

Transcript – [Google doc]     [PDF]

Ep 99: Online Activism with Andrew Pulrang and Gregg Beratan

In this episode I’m in conversation with my friends Andrew Pulrang and Gregg Beratan. The three of us are co-partners in #CripTheVote, an online movement encouraging the political participation of disabled people that we started in 2016. You’ll hear us talk about the origins of #CripTheVote, the differences between the 2016 and 2020 election on disability policies and engagement, and looking ahead with the Biden/Harris administration. Please note our conversation took place in December 2020, a few weeks after the Presidential election.

Transcript – [Google doc]     [PDF]

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