Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DoefSSe9QW0

Hosts Keith and Jodi interview the married writing team behind the pen name Sebastian Grey about their debut novel, "Merry Band of Misfits," a heist story centering disabled characters as protagonists, including Vinnie, a man with Down syndrome, and his chosen family planning a bank heist to protect their home. They discuss their film/TV background, their goal to counter "inspirational side character" tropes, and why the heist genre highlights capability, moral ambiguity, and agency. The authors describe barriers in Hollywood and why they created their indie press, Bastion House, to control the message. They detail a Kirkus Review they call an "erasure" for centering the non-disabled brother Nicholas and mislabeling or omitting key disabilities, prompting them to speak publicly. In the "Deep Cut" segment, the hosts analyze the book's themes of autonomy, caregiving, ableism, community living, humor, and low expectations.

• Sebastian Grey: https://sebastiangreytheauthor.substack.com/
• Bastian House Publishing: https://bastianhousepublishing.com/
• Purchase "Merry Band of Misfits": https://books2read.com/merry-band-of-misfits

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/s_hsDxHf4gQ

Hosts Keith and Jodi interview Stephanie Woodward, CEO of Disability EmpowHer Network, an organization run by and for disabled girls and women to build leadership skills and confidence. Stephanie consults businesses on inclusion and shares disability-parenting misconceptions through social media while raising six kids, including one-year-old triplets. Woodward discusses disability rights protest as part of an advocacy cycle—"asking did not work"—and explains founding Disability EmpowHer Network after lacking disabled women role models and seeing barriers in education, employment, and leadership, emphasizing mentorship, community, and broader definitions of leadership (including self-advocacy in medical settings). In the Deep Cut, the hosts discuss CODA's portrayal of a Deaf family, Ruby's heavy burden of interpreting, access as a community responsibility, and the film's strengths and complications in centering a hearing protagonist.

• Disability EmpowHER Network: https://www.disabilityempowhernetwork.org/
• Instagram: @disabilityempowhernetwork and @wctriplets
• TikTok: @disability_empowher and @wctriplets
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/disability-empowher-network

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mSumRVieRjc

Hosts Keith and Jodi interview Nila Morton, a Black disabled woman, content creator, social worker, and disability advocate, about visibility, fashion, desire, sex education, and how ableism and racism shape who is seen as desirable or fully adult; she describes pushback for discussing relationships and sex, the need to normalize disability in public, and how she sets boundaries while educating others. The episode's Deep Cut reviews the documentary "Patrice: The Movie," about Patrice Jetter and Garry Wickham facing benefits rules that penalize marriage and cohabitation, including the SSI $2,000 savings limit, loss of benefits tied to fundraising, accessible transportation barriers, and the looming threat of institutionalization. The hosts connect the story to policy efforts like the Marriage Equality for Disabled Adults Act and related SSI reforms.

• Find Nila online: https://linktr.ee/NilaNMorton