The lABLEd Podcast – a show about disability, illness and difference – is heading out on the road this Friday to record a special episode at the Story Museum in Oxford.
Co-host Alice Evans and disability historian, and regular contributor of the podcast, Daisy Holder, are being joined by literature academic and disability studies scholar Julia Miele Rodas.
Julia – who is from Brooklyn, New York – was in the UK back in October as a guest lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Life Writing and is returning to deliver some workshops. She will be joining Alice and Daisy on the lABLEd podcast to discuss disability in literature and the history of disabled people’s lives in America.
Julia Miele Rodas is sharing her literature expertise in a fABLEd episode
Julia first came to the attention of the lABLEd team when Alice read her piece envisaging Jane Eyre as an autistic person in prep for the Jane Eyre fABLEd episode in 2022, in which the podcast hosts discuss disability representation in literature, TV shows and films.
As part of her appearance on the podcast, Julia is using her literature expertise to run her own fABLEd episode, discussing the groundbreaking 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which was later an Oscar-winning movie.
With previous fABLEd episodes that analysed titles including The Little Mermaid, the Legend of Odin, Robocop and (coming 1st Feb) The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the co-hosts Alice and Lucy usually record them without a guest expert and instead share their own personal feelings about stories and characters.
This time it will be nice and unique to hear a different and more academic perspective on disability representation in literature and fiction from Julia.
What makes these fABLEd episodes so interesting is that many listeners discover and learn about stories that they may not have realised have disability themes. Also, people may notice that there is more disability representation in books, TV shows and films than they might have thought.
Alice Evans, co-host of the lABLEd Podcast says: “I have loved Jane Eyre since I first read it in my teens but reflecting on it later in life and exploring the characterization of the disabled characters in the novel changed my feelings about the story. When I read Julia’s interpretation of Jane as an autistic person, I thought it was a really unique and quite empowering reading of the character and I immediately thought ‘I want to hear more from this person’!”
Why disability history is important
Julia has also worked alongside Daisy to put together a complimentary History Lesson, another feature of the lABLEd Podcast, in which they discuss historical figures and events within the disability community. The pair will be looking at mental health and deinstitutionalisation in America in the 60s and 70s.
Daisy Holder, a disability historian who has been part of the lABLEd team since its inception, has been researching and producing History Lesson episodes, focusing on historical figures with a disability or health condition and historical events that impacted the disabled community, both positively and negatively. Episodes have included Horatio Nelson, Harriet Martineau, Sundiata Keita, Richard III, Rasputin and Russian Revolution, plus many more.
Daisy Holder says: “Our own history is so inaccessible, we miss out on knowing about so many cool people, and things that could help us now.”
Why record at the Story Museum?
Recording at the Story Museum is an exciting opportunity for the lABLEd team. With busy professional, personal and family lives, Alice, Lucy and Daisy and the rest of the team usually record and produce the podcast remotely. So this is a rare treat for the team to come together in person and enjoy each other’s company in new surroundings.
Sadly, they were hoping that their other co-host Lucy Wood would be joining them too, but due to personal circumstances, she has had to pull out of this get-together.
Furthermore, it is great that the Story Museum is accessible and accommodating to visitors who are physically disabled, have sensory impairments and/or have neurodiverse conditions. When a group of people with different needs come together, it can be challenging to find a suitable location that fits everyone’s requirements.
Alice and Lucy chose the Story Museum because it’s accessible for them all, but also because the duo consider “disabled stories” to be at the core of everything that lABLEd does. They pride themselves on hearing disabled voices telling their own stories.
They also feel that focusing on the experiences and values of the disabled community is so important that they added the fABLEd and History Lesson episodes to their roster to highlight how pervasive these stories are. Moreover, they want to show that disabled people and the disabled experience aren’t hidden, it’s everywhere if you only care to look.
The fABLEd and History Lesson episodes will be released in April 2024.
The lABLEd Podcast will be joined by Julia Miele Rodas at the Story Museum on Friday 2nd February 2024.
lABLEd podcast episodes are streamed on fortnightly Thursdays wherever you get your podcasts, with transcripts for every episode available on the lABLEd websites. You can also follow lABLEd on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
