Disability Inclusion: Required

Disability Inclusion: Required - Episode 29 - Black Disabled Excellence

In honor of the 100-year commemoration of Negro History Week, now celebrated as Black History Month, Disability Inclusion: Required is passing the mic over to Black Disabled leaders. This episode features Marq Mitchell, Heather Watkins, Natasha Nelson, and Mel Brown. Each of them share a 5-minute story about the power of your work, or a 5-minute reflection on what it means to lead liberatory projects while Black and disabled.   Our podcast theme music is by Andre Louis [https://onj.me/] and Precious Perez [https://preciousperezmusica.com/]. Thank you to Recording Artists And Music Professionals With Disabilities (RAMPD) [https://rampd.org/] for connecting these talented disabled musicians with the Disability & Philanthropy Forum.

Disability Inclusion: Required - Episode 28 - In Conversation with Lachi

This episode of Disability Inclusion: Required features Grammy-nominated artist and disability culture champion Lachi in conversation with host Justice Shorter. Lachi is an award-winning music executive, host of PBS series Renegades, Recording Academy national trustee, and producer of a Grammy-nominated album. Born legally blind, she created the UN-recognized organization RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), a consultancy group that collaborates on disability-inclusive solutions with major companies like Netflix and Live Nation while providing opportunities to professionals with disabilities. Her cultural activism has garnered national recognition through appearances on major media platforms including NPR, the BBC, People Magazine, Time Magazine, Good Morning America, and the New York Times. Our podcast theme music is by Andre Louis [https://onj.me/] and Precious Perez [https://preciousperezmusica.com/]. Thank you to Recording Artists And Music Professionals With Disabilities (RAMPD) [https://rampd.org/] for connecting these talented disabled musicians with the Disability & Philanthropy Forum.

Disability Inclusion: Required - Episode 27 - Tis The Season To Celebrate

Sandy Ho, the Executive Director of the Disability and Philanthropy Forum, is interviewed about the disability community's collective victories in 2025 and her hopes for the future. Our podcast theme music is by Andre Louis [https://onj.me/] and Precious Perez [https://preciousperezmusica.com/]. Thank you to Recording Artists And Music Professionals With Disabilities (RAMPD) [https://rampd.org/] for connecting these talented disabled musicians with the Disability & Philanthropy Forum.

Disability Inclusion: Required - Episode 26 - Disability and Healing Justice

This conversation explores the principles of healing justice and its connections to disability justice, highlighting the importance of collective care and the need to challenge individualistic and curative models of care that perpetuate harm and oppression. The speakers discuss how care practices observed by communities of color have been criminalized, and they provide examples of how funders can intervene to support collective trauma transformation. They also address the challenges of adopting an anti-capitalist practice within the philanthropic sector and the deep connections between anti-blackness, the medical industrial complex, and the prison industrial complex. The speakers dream of a future where healing can find interdependence, focus on freedom, transform oppression, and free our hearts and minds. Our podcast theme music is by Andre Louis [https://onj.me/] and Precious Perez [https://preciousperezmusica.com/]. Thank you to Recording Artists And Music Professionals With Disabilities (RAMPD) [https://rampd.org/] for connecting these talented disabled musicians with the Disability & Philanthropy Forum.

Disability Inclusion: Required - Episode 25 - The Joy of Access: Alt Text as Poetry

This conversation explores the power of creative and poetic image descriptions to ensure accessibility for people with vision disabilities. Guests Leona Godin and Olivia Dreisinger discuss the concept of "Alt Text as Poetry" and "Alt Text Selfies" as ways to translate visual information into concise yet expressive language. They emphasize the importance of including details like race, disability, and other marginalized identities in descriptions, rather than aiming for an unrealistic "colorblind" objectivity. The discussion also touches on the need to fund and elevate disabled storytellers, creators, and curators to shift narratives away from harmful tropes. Overall, the speakers advocate for a more sensory, multidimensional approach to accessibility and cultural production that celebrates disability as a creative force. Our podcast theme music is by Andre Louis [https://onj.me/] and Precious Perez [https://preciousperezmusica.com/]. Thank you to Recording Artists And Music Professionals With Disabilities (RAMPD) [https://rampd.org/] for connecting these talented disabled musicians with the Disability & Philanthropy Forum.