Advocacy Episodes

Mom Writes the First Autism Sourcebook with Karen Siff Exkorn

We are joined on the show today by the multi-talented, young Cassidy Huff. She is a singer/songwriter, musician, and a voiceover artist for Dreamworks and Amazon. Cassidy has a rare disease which has resulted in her undergoing dozens of surgeries, yet...

Kenny Salvini is our guest today to share about his journey since a skiing accident made him a quadriplegic as a young adult. After a meeting with other individuals with similar disabilities opened his eyes to the importance of community, Salvini took...

Steven Spohn is our guest today and he began his journey in the world of accessible gaming as a gamer with disabilities himself. He’s now an author and the Chief Operations Officer and Community Outreach Director for the AbleGamers Foundation....

Steve Isaacs joins us today to talk about using gaming in the classroom. He clarifies the difference between gamification and game-based learning, shares his insights as a game design and development teacher, and speaks about his involvement with...

Dr. Kathryn Ringland joins Mai Ling to share with us how she used the Autcraft Minecraft server as a research environment to learn first-hand how it was benefitting autistic kids. In addition to sharing what she learned from the research project,...

Blogger and gamer Erin Hawley is our guest today. Erin has muscular dystrophy which can inhibit her gaming so she shares with us her strategy for choosing new game titles, the story of how she began working with Microsoft on an adaptive controller for...

Our guest this week is outdoor accessibility advocate, Ian Mackay. He founded the nonprofit organization Ian’s Ride which helps bring awareness to the issue of outdoor accessibility and advocates for support services on behalf of those with mobility...

Our guest this episode is Angela Mahoney, a Special Education teacher, author, and creator of the I Can Work educational curriculum and training program for children and young adults on the autism spectrum. Angela talks with Mai Ling about the...

Children’s book author and motivational speaker, Simon Calcavecchia, is our guest on the show this episode. He tells about the challenges he’s faced as a quadriplegic and how he has turned his attention and energy toward encouraging and inspiring...

George Braddock joins Mai Ling on this episode to talk about his work designing homes for persons with disabilities in mind. George is the president of Creative Housing Solutions, LLC, an engineering company that uses person-centered planning...

Our guest today is blogger and disability advocate, Heather Watkins, a woman of color who wants to remind the world that disabilities also affect minority groups. She is a co-founder of the Divas with Disabilities project and she joins us to share her...

Filmmaker and entrepreneur, Andrew Pilkington is our guest for this episode. Andrew was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy as an infant and lives every day with the challenges that come with such a condition. He shares how he learned to use what strong...

Today’s guest is Yudi Bennett, the Secretary of The Uniquely Abled Project, an organization which works to provide vocational opportunities for uniquely abled individuals. She is also the co-founder of Exceptional Minds, a Visual Effects and...

Celine Osukwu joins Mai Ling to share about the work she is doing in her native country of Nigeria