Category Archives: Show Notes

About the Episode Lucy and Alice discuss the musical and film “Wicked,” a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz.” Alice highlights the story’s themes of marginalization, disability, and societal perceptions. They explore the character of Elphaba, who is green due to a potion, and Nessa Rose, a wheelchair user played by Marissa Bode. Alice emphasizesContinueContinue reading “fABLEd 14: Wicked (Part 1)”

About this Episode About our Guest Lucy Edwards is an award-winning English influencer, disability activist, and journalist known for her viral social media content about blindness and for becoming BBC Radio 1’s first blind presenter. Her life motto and memoir title is “Blind Not Broken”. Buy Blind Not Broken: Your guide to turning loss andContinueContinue reading “67. With Lucy Edwards”

About this Episode In this episode of the lABLEd podcast, hosts Lucy, Alice, and Daisy Holder, a disability historian, discuss the history of guide dogs, their training, and the impact they have on visually impaired individuals. They explore the origins of guide dogs, noting that dogs have been guiding visually impaired people since the firstContinueContinue reading “History Lesson 15: The History of Guide Dogs”

About this Episode In this episode of the lABLEd podcast, hosts Lucy and Alice discuss their guest, Dr. Sarah Ryan, a professor at Manchester University and a respected disability advocate. Dr. Ryan shares her journey into academia, focusing on people with learning disabilities and autism, and her recent book on health inequalities and social murder.ContinueContinue reading “66. With Sara Ryan”

About the Episode Lucy and Alice discuss LS Lowry’s painting “The Cripples,” which features matchstick figures in an industrial northern English town. Lucy describes the painting, noting 30-35 human figures, including a child in a rudimentary cart-like object. They explore the painting’s potential political statement, Lowry’s possible Asperger’s, and the controversy surrounding the term “cripple.”ContinueContinue reading “fABLEd 13: LS Lowry’s – The Cripples”

About this Episode Lucy and Alice discuss the challenges of making art accessible to visually impaired people, with Anita Howard a Visitor Access & Inclusion Designer, accessibility consultant, and heritage researcher They highlight their podcast episode on Lowry’s “The Cripples.” Lucy used AI to describe the painting. Anita Howard, shares her project on enhancing artContinueContinue reading “Meeting the people who are making art accessible”

About this Episode Liam Virgo discusses his nine-year battle with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), which began at age 12 and worsened at 13, leading to severe symptoms like incontinence and loss of mobility. Despite extensive testing and misdiagnoses, he was finally diagnosed at 13. Liam recounts his struggles, including being bedridden for three years andContinueContinue reading “65. With Liam Virgo”

About the Episode About this Episode The lABLEd Podcast episode delves into the history of Joseph Merrick, also known as the Elephant Man. Joseph was born on August 5, 1862, in Leicester, with significant physical deformities. He faced societal rejection, including being abandoned by his stepmother and working as a hawker. Merrick’s life improved whenContinueContinue reading “History Lesson 14 Joseph Merrick – The Elephant Man”

About the Episode In the final episode of their Institutionalization Spotlight Season, Alice and Lucy welcome Rob Gee – a former mental health nurse turned stand-up poet who uses humor as a powerful tool for empowerment. Rob shares fascinating insights into institutional care, discussing how creativity and comedy can help people reclaim their voice andContinueContinue reading “Spotlight Series 2025: 4. Finding Humour in Institutions with Rob Gee”

About the Episode In this fABLEd episode of lABLEd, we dive deep into Ken Kesey’s groundbreaking novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” with special guest Julia Miele Rodas, a professor of English specializing in disability studies. Join us as we explore the complex world of psychiatric disability, institutional power, and individual resistance through theContinueContinue reading “Spotlight Series 2025: 3. fABLEd 12: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”