Ziah McKinney Taylor spent years building a body of survival skills, and a career as a doula and patient advocate, largely without a single diagnosis to explain any of it. Then, while researching someone else's illness, she clicked on Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and found her generations of her family staring back at her.

In this episode of the Disabled Parenthood Podcast, Ziah and I talk about a pregnancy spent unable to sit upright without help, 24 hours of chanting through labor, an under-informed doctor who told her she'd be dead if she actually the condition she'd just diagnosed herself with, and what it means to go on the journey of diagnosis with her child at the same time. Together, we get into how much of a disabled person's life is actually theirs once you subtract everything spent managing other people's comfort with their body.

Episode notes, transcript & resources on the website at ⁠disabledparenthood.com⁠.

After we recorded episode one, there was a thread Julie Edwards and I didn't have time to fully explore, so I invited her back.

In this P.S. conversation, Julie and I talk about what she did differently the second time around: mixing breastfeeding and formula feeding from the start instead of white-knuckling one approach, getting clear on her actual values instead of rigid rules, and moving from "am I meant to be a mom?" to living in the nuance.

This is a shorter bonus episode. If you haven't listened to episode one yet, start there.

Episode notes, transcript & resources on the website at disabledparenthood.com.

When Julie Edwards became a parent in March 2020, she was navigating chronic pain after cancer treatment, recovering from a difficult birth, and welcoming a baby during the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Parenthood eventually led her to an unexpected ADHD diagnosis and a new understanding of the supports she needed to thrive.

In this first episode of the Disabled Parenthood Podcast, Julie and I talk about chronic illness, disability, neurodivergence, sensory overload, executive functioning, postpartum planning, and the invisible work of parenting. Together, we explore what it means to build a version of parenthood that fits your body, brain, and values—and why the question isn't simply whether disabled people can become parents, but what it takes for them to thrive.

Content note: This episode discusses cancer, chronic pain, postpartum mental health, and thoughts of suicide in the context of safety planning.

Episode notes, transcript & resources on the website at disabledparenthood.com.