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The Global Disability News Network Podcast: Accessible. Collaborative. Multimedia.

GADIM

TGDN Network is an accessible, multimedia platform sharing authentic stories about disability from around the world. Our content, created by disabled professionals and allies, elevates authentic disability stories worldwide while highlighting diverse perspectives and collaborative storytelling powered by GADIM. Through a mix of news reporting and interviews with disabled journalists, filmmakers, and other media makers, TGDN Network’s Podcast connects global events to the lived realities they shape, and makes those stories easier to follow through an ongoing commitment to access.

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  • 3 episodes
  • Updated July 2

Episodes3

Newest first
  • July 2 · 51 min

    How Blind and Low-Vision People Are Reclaiming Style and Fashion with Hairstylist Anna Cofone

    Fashion is one of the most visual industries in the world, so where does that leave blind and low-vision people? In this episode, hosts Karina Sturm and Amy Zayed talk with Anna Cofone, founder of the Hair & Care Project, about how hair, beauty, and style become powerful tools of identity, confidence, and belonging. Anna shares how her father's sight loss inspired her work, what really happens inside her accessible hair workshops, and how she's brought touch tours, audio-described runways, and even a blind model with her guide dog to London and Copenhagen Fashion Week. This conversation explores disability, self-expression, and who gets to feel seen. Watch, share, and let us know your thoughts in the comments. 0:00 - Welcome to the Global Disability News Network 1:23 - Where Hair & Care began: Anna's father 4:03 - Style as identity and quiet coping 5:53 - Inside a Hair & Care workshop 8:15 - The ripple effect: community and confidence 9:52 - Amy's story: family, tailors, and Vivienne Westwood 15:14 - The 2019 moment that launched Hair & Care 18:52 - Training stylists to work with blind clients 23:11 - Styling a blind client: touch and description 25:44 - Making Fashion Accessible: touch tours and audio 31:44 - Lucy Edwards and Miss Molly walk the runway 37:02 - The industry's fear and the Purple Pound 43:23 - Heightened senses, personal style, and the 2029 vision Link to full transcript: ⁠https://globaldisabilitynews.org/how-blind-and-low-vision-people-are-reclaiming-style-and-fashion-with-anna-cofone/⁠ Links Hair and Care Project (Anna Cofone's organization) https://www.hairandcareproject.com Hair and Care Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hairandcareproject/?hl=en Making Fashion Accessible Instagram https://www.instagram.com/makingfashionaccessible/ The Global Disability News Network https://globaldisabilitynews.org GADIM — Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment https://gadim.org Lucy Edwards (blind broadcaster/model in the runway story) https://www.lucyedwards.com Sinéad O'Dwyer (designer of the Copenhagen show Lucy Edwards walked) https://sineadodwyer.com Chet Lo (designer) https://www.chetlo.com

  • June 4 · 45 min

    We Need to Talk About Dating With a Disability - with Dateability App Founders | TGDNN Podcast

    Dating with a disability comes with a set of questions most apps never consider, from when to disclose to whether a community of your own means inclusion or separation. In this episode of the TGDNN Podcast, hosts Karina Sturm and Amy Zayed talk with Jacqueline and Alexa Child, the sisters who founded Dateability, a dating app made for disabled and chronically ill people. The conversation gets honest about ableism and the things people actually say, visible versus invisible disability, safety and devotees, internalized bias, and the real love stories that have come out of the app. Listen to the full conversation and tell us in the comments where you land on the separation versus inclusion question. 0:00 - Welcome and meet the founders of Dateability 2:11 - Why they created Dateability 4:10 - What makes Dateability different 5:54 - Searching by condition vs. broad categories 8:52 - Separation or inclusion: the big debate 15:01 - Media, representation, and changing stigma 17:02 - Visible vs. invisible disability and disclosure 22:30 - The audacity of ableism 28:13 - Keeping users safe: moderation, devotees, scams 32:49 - Inter-abled vs. disabled relationships 36:11 - Internalized ableism and self-worth 41:31 - Favorite Dateability love stories Video available on Youtube https://youtu.be/XpJ7B_IdoiI?si=QiRkguB1emE_pYVG Dateability https://info.dateabilityapp.com/ Dateability on the App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dateability-disabled-dating/id6443474660Dateability on Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dateabilityappThe Global Disability News Network https://globaldisabilitynews.org/Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (GADIM) https://gadim.org/Karina Sturm (host, News Director of TGDNN) https://www.karina-sturm.com/Amy Zayed (host and journalist) https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyzayed/

  • April 30 · 47 min

    “I Wrote the Disability Story I Needed as a Child”: NYT Editor Wendy Lu on Her Novel “Casting April”

    New York Times editor and debut author Wendy Lu joins co-hosts Karina Sturm and Amy Zayed to talk about her middle-grade novel Casting April, a story about a 12-year-old girl with a tracheostomy tube who fights to prove she belongs in her school play. Wendy shares why she wrote the book she wished she'd had as a child, how publishing's challenges with the middle-grade market played into her path to Penguin Random House, and what it really means to write complex, nuanced characters with disabilities. The conversation ranges from the "disability gaze" in classrooms to the trauma parents carry, to what it's like building a career in disability journalism. 00:00 - Teaser 00:49 - Welcome to TGDNN + Introducing Wendy Lu 02:32 - What Casting April Is About 04:30 - Why Disability Representation in Kids' Books Matters 06:41 - The "Disability Gaze" and Classroom Experiences 12:41 - Balancing Disability as a Theme Without Overshadowing the Story 15:04 - The Road to Penguin Random House 19:05 - On Writing Complex Characters -- Not Just Villains 23:54 - Writing as a Coping Mechanism Since Childhood 27:01 - How All Three Hosts Found Their Way Into Journalism 30:52 - Overprotective Parents and Disability: A Universal Story 36:37 - Real Medical Emergencies and What They Do to a Family 44:24 - Career Highlights: Disabled Doctors and a Long Road to the Times Links: Full Transcript of Episode: https://globaldisabilitynews.org/i-wrote-the-disability-story-i-needed-as-a-child-nyt-editor-wendy-lu-on-her-novel-casting-april/ Casting April by Wendy Lu (Penguin Random House / Knopf Books for Young Readers) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... Wendy Lu's official author website https://www.wendyluwrites.com/ The Global Disability News Network (TGDNN) https://globaldisabilitynews.org/ GADIM -- Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment https://gadim.org/ National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ) -- Arizona State University https://ncdj.org/" Disabled Doctors Were Called Too 'Weak' to be in Medicine" -- Wendy Lu's HuffPost story https://www.huffpost.com/entry/disabl...