Seeing the World from Four Foot Two- Identity, Access, and Advocacy with Jenna Udenberg

Seeing the World from Four Foot Two- Identity, Access, and Advocacy with Jenna Udenberg

Most people move through the world without thinking about how they move through the world. The door opens. The bathroom fits. The seat is reachable. For Jenna Udenberg, none of that has ever been a given.  And after nearly four decades navigating life from a wheelchair, she has stopped waiting for the world to catch up — and started educating it. Jenna is an educator, author, and founder of Above and Beyond with You, a nonprofit dedicated to accessibility education in its fullest sense. Her memoir, Within My Spokes, traces a life shaped by juvenile arthritis, identity crises, the pandemic's invisible toll on disabled workers, and the hard-won freedom that comes from building a community instead of just surviving one. In this conversation, we talk about what the ADA actually means (and doesn't), the difference between compliance and genuine inclusion, the emotional exhaustion of constantly educating others, and the small but radical act of asking someone how they want to be described. This one is for anyone who has never had to think about whether they can get through the door — and for everyone who has. Show Notes with Chapters 00:00 Cold open — the ramp and the button aren't enough: accessibility beyond the front door 01:06 James introduces Jenna: educator, author, wheelchair user, founder of Above and Beyond with You 02:04 The view from four foot two: Jenna's perspective on perspective 03:23 Diagnosed at seven, in a wheelchair by eight — and the ginger snap she lost before all of it 03:46 The Firefly attachment, paved trails, and finding the biking community during the pandemic 04:46 The bikers looked her in the eye — why that was a profound and unusual experience 08:06 Why James wanted this conversation: the invisible design of everyday life 09:02 Self-advocacy from childhood — and the parents who made Jenna the decision-maker about her own body 10:28 "Leave places better than you found them" — the family ethos that became a life philosophy 11:30 The Journey Award, the superintendent, and the moment Jenna climbed on her soapbox 12:27 Not seeing herself within disability community until the last three years — and why rural isolation makes it harder 13:05 The ADA myth: the largest unfunded mandate in U.S. history 14:27 The Blandin fellowship, the identity cost of leadership retreats, and navigating access needs in unfamiliar spaces 15:47 The pandemic strips the superwoman persona — invisible disabilities become visible for the first time 17:00 The district, the lawyers, and the identity crisis of not getting to say goodbye to her students 18:17 Being given the words "accessibility educator" — and the aha of a new identity forming 19:04 The Bush Fellowship, the memoir, and how Above and Beyond with You was born 21:12 What the work actually looks like: speaking, paneling, partnerships, and the long-game "with you" model 22:26 "Nothing about us without us" — the consulting firm with no disabled employees 24:59 Creating safe spaces to make mistakes — and why Jenna still says "handicap parking" even though she hates it 26:15 Advice for new caregivers and newly disabled families: the grief cycle, community, and not rushing 28:26 Medical model vs. societal model vs. disability culture — and the moment Jenna caught herself diagnosing strangers 30:44 "I have scars, but not open wounds" — what it means to be a veteran disabled person 33:19 Finding community online — Facebook groups, information overload, and discernment 35:42 Accessibility in real spaces: James shares the Weymouth Center renovation story 39:46 The Carnegie Library transformation — from inaccessible bathrooms to the first adult changing table in the region 42:19 Stop trying to be ADA compliant. Be committed to the spirit of why it was written. 43:52 We gave you a ramp and a button — the gap between entry and true belonging 45:41 How to interact with disabled people: humor, curiosity, and the no-BS detector 47:32 Learning by osmosis — hang out in the rooms where this is the work 49:34 The exhaustion of managing other people's awkwardness — and when enough is enough 51:19 Practical tips for talking to someone in a wheelchair: eye level, space, and just asking 53:39 "How would you want me to describe you to someone else?" — restoring dignity and agency with one question 55:09 Talk to the disabled person, not over them to their caregiver 56:03 The memoir Within My Spokes: who it's for and what Jenna wanted to put in the world 58:46 Family reactions, vulnerable stories, and the tapestry of interconnection 1:00:36 Why she wrote it: 5,000 coffees vs. 500 — the book as the fastest way to get real 1:01:30 Final invitation: take inventory of who you surround yourself with — and prepare 1:04:25 Where to find Jenna and Above and Beyond with You   Resources Mentioned Above and Beyond with You:  https://www.aboveandbeyondwithu.org/ Jenna's book — subtitle: A Tapestry of Pain, Growth and Freedom. Available via the website.

Why Being Important Is the Wrong Goal — and What to Aim for Instead with Chip Scholz

Most of us spend our careers trying to become important. We perform, we climb, we accumulate — and somewhere along the way we confuse being needed with actually being useful. Chip Scholz has spent decades coaching leaders through exactly that confusion, and he'll tell you plainly: the freedom you're looking for is on the other side of not needing to matter quite so much. Chip is a leadership coach, author of Every Dog Has Its Day, and president of the North Carolina Woodturners. He's coached hundreds of executives across industries, survived a stroke that redirected his life onto what he calls the second mountain, and found in a humble wood lathe a set of lessons that no boardroom had taught him. In this conversation, we dig into hubris and self-awareness, how the best leaders find touchstones, why delegation is almost universally broken, and how to tell the difference between building an asset and building a legacy. This one is for anyone who's been chasing the next promotion without stopping to ask what they actually want — and for any leader who suspects their biggest blind spot might be hiding in plain sight. Show Notes and Chapters 00:00 — Welcome, Guest Introduction & Show Overview 02:47 — "Every Dog Has Its Day" Philosophy Explained 05:09 — Surviving a Stroke, Living on Bonus Time 08:00 — The Water Cure Poem & Humility Lesson 11:44 — Woodturning, Leadership, and Life on the Lathe 18:13 — The Second Mountain: Meaning Over Success 25:48 — Black Swan Events & Building Self-Awareness 30:55 — Hubris: The #1 Leadership Blind Spot 38:13 — Phases of Leadership Growth Over Time 43:45 — How to Find the Right Business Coach 49:05 — Legacy vs. Asset: Succession in Family Business 57:00 — Self-Leadership, Clarity, and What You Want Resources Mentioned: Chip Scholz's website:  http://scholzandassociates.com/ [http://scholzandassociates.com/]  Chip's current book — available on Amazon, Audiobooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Walmart

Kidnapping Billionaires to Save the Planet — The Novel That Goes There with Diana Colleen

What if the only way to save the planet was to kidnap the world's billionaires and dose them with psychedelics? That's not a joke — that's Diana Colleen's debut novel. But here's what makes it more than just a wild premise. Diana is a trained psychedelic facilitator. She's lived through the kind of trauma these medicines are designed to help heal. And she genuinely believes billionaireism is a pathology — not a success story. This conversation goes deep. Into the medicine, the inequality, and the hope she refuses to let go of.

When Your Dream Life Stops Feeling Like Your Life- with Kate Kayaian

After spending decades performing at the highest levels of classical music, Kate Kayaian did something almost unthinkable in her industry: she walked away. In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, Kate shares the deeply personal process of untangling herself from an identity she had carried since childhood and learning how to build a life that actually reflected who she was becoming — not just who people expected her to be. We talk about creativity, career pivots, burnout, external validation, the trap of “potential,” and why so many high achievers secretly feel stuck inside lives that look successful from the outside. Kate also shares practical insights from her book Beyond Potential about reassessing old stories, redefining success, and taking action toward a more aligned future. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re allowed to want something different, this conversation will hit home.   Show Notes & Chapters 00:00 — When your success no longer feels like your life 01:08 — The rebellion of walking away from a dream career 03:18 — The podcast story that changed Kate’s trajectory 04:55 — Realizing the version of herself she wanted to become 07:15 — Choosing the cello because of a childhood crush 09:08 — Why classical musicians “aren’t supposed” to quit 10:26 — The sunk cost trap high achievers struggle with 11:32 — The relief Kate felt when concerts were canceled in 2020 14:13 — Helping creatives reinvent themselves during the pandemic 16:08 — Why so many people secretly want permission to pivot 17:34 — The stories that keep people trapped in old identities 20:42 — “Rocking chair tasks” and fake productivity 22:18 — Why more people are creative than they realize 26:32 — Expanding your identity beyond one label 30:04 — Why successful people struggle to leave successful careers 33:37 — Generational shifts in work, purpose, and reinvention 36:15 — Elite careers and the hidden cost of mastery 39:35 — The real meaning behind “Beyond Potential” 41:37 — Designing your own version of success 44:45 — When hobbies accidentally become businesses 48:19 — The awkwardness of introducing the “new” version of yourself 52:06 — Why friends sometimes resist your evolution 55:46 — Small action steps that help you reinvent your life Resources Mentioned * Kate Kayaian Official Website [https://katekayaian.com?utm_source=chatgpt.com]

Dreaming of Things That Never Were — with Kenneth Kunken

At 20 years old, Kenneth Kunken broke his neck during a college football game at Cornell University and was told he likely wouldn’t survive the week. Doctors warned his family that even if he lived, he’d spend the rest of his life in a nursing home with little hope for independence. They were wrong. In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, Ken shares the long road from catastrophic spinal cord injury to earning multiple graduate degrees, becoming an assistant district attorney, raising triplets, and writing his memoir, I Dream of Things That Never Were. This conversation dives into resilience, identity, disability, expectations, purpose, and the quiet danger of letting other people decide what your future should look like. It’s also a deeply human conversation about grief, adaptation, love, fatherhood, and why hope sometimes starts with simply refusing to quit. Show Notes & Chapters 00:00 — The prosecutor nobody expected to see in court 02:21 — The football tackle that changed Ken’s life forever 05:48 — Doctors tell his family to “let him go” 07:17 — Reading the pamphlet that predicted a hopeless future 10:32 — Returning to Cornell less than a year after paralysis 13:05 — Rejection, job hunting, and mailing 200 resumes 14:06 — Discovering purpose through helping others with disabilities 18:16 — From introvert to public speaker and advocate 19:54 — Navigating inaccessible campuses before the ADA 24:36 — Why Ken decided to become a lawyer 26:08 — Becoming an assistant district attorney despite enormous barriers 30:10 — The danger of low expectations 33:16 — Why Ken refused sympathy from juries 35:02 — How to talk to people with disabilities without fear 37:10 — Choosing growth instead of despair after trauma 39:02 — “Dream of things that never were” 42:16 — Writing the book that his sons would one day read 44:40 — Marriage, IVF, and becoming the father of triplets 49:00 — Advice for someone newly facing spinal cord injury 53:33 — Retirement, public speaking, and continuing to inspire others 56:05 — The award named in Ken’s honor Resources Mentioned * Ken Kunken Official Website [https://kenkunken.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com]