Accessibility Isn’t a Favour: A Conversation with Ellie Rowlands (GUEST CHAT)

Accessibility Isn’t a Favour: A Conversation with Ellie Rowlands (GUEST CHAT)

Accessibility Isn’t a Favour: Ellie Rowlands on Ableism in Everyday Life When we talk about disability, we often focus on the big moments: discrimination cases, inspirational stories, fundraising campaigns, or medical diagnoses. But what if inequality lives somewhere much quieter? In this episode of The C-Word, Catharine sits down with disability advocate, public speaker, and creative business owner Ellie Rowlands to talk about the everyday realities of navigating a world that isn’t always designed with disabled people in mind. Born with spina bifida and living in regional New South Wales, Ellie shares what ableism actually looks like in practice: inaccessible buildings, limited accessible bathrooms, assumptions from strangers, planning every outing around access, and the constant exhaustion of having to advocate for yourself. Together, Catharine and Ellie explore ~  • What ableism is and why it often goes unnoticed  • Why accessibility isn’t a favour, it’s participation  • The hidden labour of planning daily life with a disability  • Living, working, and running a business while managing disability and chronic illness  • Regional Australia’s accessibility challenges  • The importance of self-advocacy  • Community, belonging, and finding joy Ellie also shares her journey from spending years bedridden with a serious pressure injury to building a successful design business, becoming a disability advocate, and being recognised as Mudgee’s Young Citizen of the Year. This is a conversation about dignity, access, community, and a simple but powerful truth: Nobody is “in the way” simply because they exist. CONNECT WITH ELLIE Instagram: @byellecreative Website: https://byellecreative.com.au Ellie Rowlands is the founder of By Elle Creative, a graphic design studio specialising in wedding stationery, branding, and design for creative businesses. Based in Mudgee, New South Wales, Ellie works with clients across Australia and beyond, offering her services online to couples, entrepreneurs, and businesses wherever they are located. Alongside her creative work, Ellie is a disability advocate, lived-experience speaker, and the recipient of Mudgee’s Young Citizen of the Year Award. Women’s Circle: Conversations About First Periods On Saturday 25 July, I’ll be hosting a small women’s circle at Goolwa Library as part of Firstival. This isn’t a lecture or a panel. It’s a conversation about first periods, the stories we carry, what we were told, what we weren’t told, and the moments we still remember decades later. Numbers are capped at 12 to keep the group intimate, and there’ll be tea, coffee, and a few nibbles while we chat. The event is free, but bookings are essential. Book your place here:  https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/womens-circle-conversations-about-first-periods-tickets-1989071039022?aff=oddtdtcreator 🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2594538/fan_mail/new] Content Note ~ This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material.  Also, I swear. Support ~  These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself. Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25) 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 Emergency 000 Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~ The Socials (I'd love a follow)  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/ [https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/] LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/] Support The Pod Substack (where I write stuff) https://catharineredden.substack.com [https://catharineredden.substack.com] Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!) https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden [https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden] Credits Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples. Sovereignty never ceded. Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley https://ridleyfarmstudio.com... [https://ridleyfarmstudio.com.au]

When You Call a Cunt a Cunt, It Doesn’t Make You a Good Person (FIELD NOTES)

A friend said something to me over lunch recently that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about: “When you call a cunt a cunt, it doesn’t make you a good person.” That conversation sent me back to a summer afternoon at a local poetry reading, where I overheard two conversations that have stayed with me ever since. One was a man explaining how much easier women have it these days. The other was a joke about women’s bodies. Neither conversation was unusual. That’s part of what bothered me. In this short solo episode, I reflect on sexism, nostalgia, the stories we tell ourselves about the past, and what happens when you hear something you know is wrong but aren’t quite sure how to challenge it in the moment. Sometimes feminism looks like marching in the streets. Sometimes it looks like sitting quietly at a poetry reading, listening, and wondering whether to speak up. And sometimes it looks like coming home and making a podcast instead. 🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2594538/fan_mail/new] Content Note ~ This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material.  Also, I swear. Support ~  These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself. Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25) 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 Emergency 000 Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~ The Socials (I'd love a follow)  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/ [https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/] LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/] Support The Pod Substack (where I write stuff) https://catharineredden.substack.com [https://catharineredden.substack.com] Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!) https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden [https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden] Credits Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples. Sovereignty never ceded. Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley https://ridleyfarmstudio.com... [https://ridleyfarmstudio.com.au]

Everybody Needed Her. She Went Dancing Anyway. Ft Namita Pandey (GUEST CHAT)

What starts as a conversation about food quickly becomes a conversation about the invisible work women carry every day. In this episode of The C-Word, I talk with Namita Pandey, founder of Aurum Celebrations, about the mental load hiding in ordinary things: groceries, lunchboxes, leftovers, family calendars, clean fridges, changing diets, and the question women are somehow always expected to answer: what’s for dinner? We talk about migration, marriage, motherhood, grief, culture, midlife, ambition, and what happens when women spend a lifetime saying yes, often without even realising they’re saying it. And then there’s dancing. Even though people still need her, Namita is choosing joy, movement, business, beauty, and a life that belongs to her, too. This is a conversation about invisible labour, but it’s also about the radical little question women deserve to ask themselves: What do I want my life to look like? About Namita Pandey  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aurumcelebrationsau/ Website:  https://celebratewithaurum.com/ 🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2594538/fan_mail/new] Content Note ~ This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material.  Also, I swear. Support ~  These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself. Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25) 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 Emergency 000 Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~ The Socials (I'd love a follow)  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/ [https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/] LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/] Support The Pod Substack (where I write stuff) https://catharineredden.substack.com [https://catharineredden.substack.com] Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!) https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden [https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden] Credits Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples. Sovereignty never ceded. Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley https://ridleyfarmstudio.com... [https://ridleyfarmstudio.com.au]

‘No’ is a Complete Sentence (except if your name is Captain JAQ) (FIELD NOTES)

My mental health has been rough lately. In this episode, I talk openly about panic attacks, suicidal ideation, medication changes, and what it feels like when hope slowly starts to return after a difficult few weeks. I also tell the story of an interaction with a man I’m calling Captain JAQ (Just Asking Questions). A podcaster who invited me onto his show, challenged my boundaries, and accidentally gave me a lesson in self-trust, consent, and the power of a single word: no. This episode explores anxiety, people-pleasing, feminism, microaggressions, and why so many women are taught to justify their decisions long after they’ve already made them. Sometimes the most important question isn’t whether someone else thinks you’re right. Sometimes it’s whether you’re willing to trust yourself when something feels off. The C-Word with Catharine Redden is where feminism, sex, frivolity, and fury all get a mic. 🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2594538/fan_mail/new] Content Note ~ This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material.  Also, I swear. Support ~  These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself. Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25) 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 Emergency 000 Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~ The Socials (I'd love a follow)  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/ [https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/] LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/] Support The Pod Substack (where I write stuff) https://catharineredden.substack.com [https://catharineredden.substack.com] Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!) https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden [https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden] Credits Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples. Sovereignty never ceded. Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley https://ridleyfarmstudio.com... [https://ridleyfarmstudio.com.au]

“You Should Lose Weight” Isn’t a Diagnosis: An Interview with Amanda Levitt (GUEST CHAT)

“Health” research tells us that 60 to 70% of people in the Western world are overweight or obese. And they never say that like it’s a good thing. If you, like me, are one of the many people living in a body considered fat, and you’ve ever been to your GP, primary care provider, or doctor for pretty much anything, only to be told to lose weight because apparently that’s a cure-all (spoiler alert: it’s not), this episode is for you. In this conversation, I talk with Amanda Levitt, a sociology PhD candidate at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, about fat phobia in medicine and healthcare. We talk about BMI, medical bias, shame, bullying, accessibility, blood pressure cuffs that don’t fit, gowns that don’t close, being dismissed before you’ve even finished explaining what’s wrong, and the way fat bodies are so often treated as a problem before they’re treated as human. Amanda’s work asks a vital question: what would healthcare look like if fat patients were actually listened to? This conversation is thoughtful, funny in parts, frustrating in parts, and probably going to feel very familiar for a lot of people. Plus puppies, kittens, sex, airplane tray tables, and the joy and danger of roller skating. You can find out more about Amanda’s work here: https://clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/cl9811 [https://clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/cl9811] And please follow her on Instagram. She shares incredible insights into fat phobia, along with some extremely cute puppy and kitten photos. https://www.instagram.com/whimsicalfemme [https://www.instagram.com/whimsicalfemme?igsh=MXM0cTA4bjEwMmZ1] 🎙️👀 What worked? What dragged? What made you mutter “Jesus Christ, Catharine”? Tell me. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2594538/fan_mail/new] Content Note ~ This podcast gets into bodies, panic attacks, trauma, sexism, mental health, and the occasional emotional sinkhole. Please look after yourself only listen when you feel safe to engage with potentially triggering material.  Also, I swear. Support ~  These aren’t here as a formality. I’ve used some of these myself. Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (ages 5–25) 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 Emergency 000 Outside Australia, local crisis services are available. ~ The Socials (I'd love a follow)  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/ [https://www.instagram.com/catharine.redden/] LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/catharine-redden/] Support The Pod Substack (where I write stuff) https://catharineredden.substack.com [https://catharineredden.substack.com] Buy Me a Coffee (where you can financially support the pod, and me!) https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden [https://buymeacoffee.com/CatharineRedden] Credits Recorded on the lands of the Ramindjeri and Ngarrindjeri peoples. Sovereignty never ceded. Recorded & edited at Ridley Farm Studio by Luke Ridley https://ridleyfarmstudio.com... [https://ridleyfarmstudio.com.au]