Always Looking Up

To start I would like to issue a trigger warning. In this episode we talk about bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault. If these are triggers for you please feel free to skip this episode. For context, this conversation was recorded on Thursday, June 15, 2023.

I sat down with Aubrey Smalls. Aubrey is an actor and filmmaker with dwarfism. This episode was recorded a day after Little People of America, LPA, on social media and in an official press release, raised awareness on recent online and in-person bullying events directed towards the little person community. We provide greater context as to what was happening, discuss what those in the little person community, the disabled community at large, and allies can do to protect little people when this behavior occurs, and emphasize that no one and no platform has the right to tell a little person that they do not have the right to feel safe, to exist.

Follow Aubrey: Instagram: @theaubreysmalls TikTok: @aubreysmalls Website: https://www.dearaverageheightpeople.com

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Dr. Sami Schalk. Dr. Schalk is an Associate Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interdisciplinary research focuses broadly on disability, race, and gender in contemporary American literature and culture. She is the author of the books Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction and Black Disability Politics. We discuss what it means to come into one’s disabled identity, how the portrayal of certain identities in fiction can and do influence real life, where Black Disability Politics intersect and conflict with the mainstream white-dominant disability civil rights movement and much, much more.

Follow Dr. Schalk: Instagram: @fierceblackfemme Twitter: @DrSamiSchalk Website: http://samischalk.com

Follow Me: Instagram:@jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

Welcome to Season 2!

In this week’s episode I sat down with Prasanna Ranganathan. Prasanna is a documentary producer, human rights lawyer, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) consultant, accessibility advisor, speaker, author, correspondent, writer and arts columnist. After talking about our mutual love of all things Broadway we discussed the audacity to thrive and to be disabled, the power and influence of storytelling, how accessibility can not and should not be the end goal, and much, much more.

Follow Prasanna: Website: prasannaranganathan.com Instagram: @prasran Twitter: @PRanganathan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prasannaranganathan/

Cookbook Sales Page: https://rupikaur.com/products/made-with-prema-cookbook

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode, the 100th episode, I sat down with Sinéad Burke. Sinéad is an Irish author, academic and disability activist. She is the Founder of Tilting The Lens, a disability-led consultancy that advises major global brands, guiding them in their move from awareness to action by creating more accessible practices, policies, products and services, places and promotions. We discuss her career path from fashion blogger to CEO, the shift in asking the fashion industry to design for us, the disabled community, to design with us, the power and influence of disability representation, not just in fashion, and much, much more.

Read the Transcription HERE

Follow Sinéad: Instagram: @thesineadburke, Website: https://www.sinead-burke.com

Follow Tilting the Lens: Instagram: @tiltingthelens, Website: https://tiltingthelens.com

Follow Me: Instagram:@jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Dr. Rose Perry. Rose, a self-described sociologist turned social innovator, is an applied research scientist with a Ph.D. in neuroscience & physiology. She is the founder and executive director of Social Creatures, a nonprofit social innovation and research organization on a mission to ensure that any individual can socially connect with others, and co-founder of Historicons, a toys and games company that celebrates diversity by using historical events and icons to represent, educate, and empower kids. We discuss how being disabled influenced her work, who should bear the responsibility of teaching kids at an early age about how to interact with someone who is different, and the social connections and relationships between non-disabled and disabled people and those within the disability community itself.

Read the transcript HERE

Follow Dr. Rose Perry: LinkedIn: Rose Perry

Follow Social Creatures: Instagram: @socialcreaturz Website: https://www.thesocialcreatures.org

Follow Historicons: Instagram: @historicons TikTok: @historicons Website:https://www.historicons.com

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Haleigh Rosa. Haleigh is a disability model, advocate, and founder of the foreveryone.foundation. Haleigh has collaborated with iconic brands including Off-White, Tommy Hilfiger and SKIMS, having appeared in a campaign launching the brand’s debut adaptive collection that recently went viral when conservative political commentator Candace Owens expressed her opposition to disability representation. We discuss the differences between being uneducated and being ignorant, how she and the disability community responded to what Candace Owens had to say, and why disability representation matters, why it is everything.

Read the transcription HERE

Follow Haleigh: Instagram: @halrosa TikTok: @halrosa

Follow the foreveryone.foundation: Instagram: @foreveryone.foundation

Follow Me: Instagram:@jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Oliver Scheier. Oliver, among many other things including fashion model and artist, is a human with a disability and he loves it. After sharing his story and talking about how the desire to wear jeans like everybody else led to the founding of the non-profit Runway of Dreams, we discuss what it means to him, as a disabled person, to walk the runways, how the impact of seeing disability in fashion has changed society’s perception of disability (and how it’s stayed the same), and that disability is cool.

Follow Oliver: Instagram: @oliverscheier

Follow Runway Of Dreams: Instagram: @runwayofdreams Twitter: @RunwayOfDreams1 Facebook: Runway Of Dreams YouTube: Runway Of Dreams Website: https://www.runwayofdreams.org

Follow Gamut Management: Instagram: @gamutmanagement Facebook: Gamut Management Website:https://www.gamutmanagement.com

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Blaze Foster. Blaze is a Team USA Para-Powerlifting Athlete who has competed around the world and is training to compete at the Paralympic Games. We discuss how he got into the sport of powerlifting, what it means to be a person with dwarfism in the disabled community, why being a dwarf is not just being short and much more.

Follow Blaze: Instagram: @blazelifts_32

Follow Me: Instagram:@jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Katy Sullivan. Katy is a Paralympian, one of the first bilateral amputees to compete in the Games in ambulatory track, US record holder, and an actress of stage and screen. Katy was most recently on Broadway in the play Cost Of Living which examines two pairs of relationships between disabled and able persons. We discuss the differences between performing at the Paralympics and performing on Broadway, the importance of telling a story like Cost Of Living authentically, and a new, potential version of the Bechdel test.

Read the transcript HERE

Follow Katy: Instagram: @realkatysullivan FaceBook: Katy Sullivan TikTok: @katybsullivan

Follow Me: Instagram:@jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Nitika Chopra. Nitika is a chronic illness advocate, content creator and entrepreneur who has been featured in Vogue India, Forbes, Allure, and Newsweek, and founder of Chronicon, an inclusive community-building event focused on those living with chronic illness. We discuss the power and responsibility of being a content creator in the chronic illness and disability space, the right we all have to tell our stories, the notion that representation is everything, and what we can expect to see and experience at Chronicon 2023.

All Things Chronicon 2023

Get your tickets HERE

Follow On Instagram:@chroniconofficial Website: https://chronicon.co

Listen and subscribe to Thriving Together with Nitika Chopra

Follow Nitika: Instagram:@nitikachopra

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.comEmail: [email protected]

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin.