Equal Too: Achieving Disability Equality
Equal Too: Achieving Disability Equality, is a special, six-part series, featured on Seneca's Conversations on Power and Purpose series, that explores the biggest challenges faced by the disabled community and starts a conversation about what is needed to drive equality. Equal Too has been created by Harder Than You Think, the award winning team behind Emmy award winning Netflix documentary Rising Phoenix, and P&G Studios.
This episode of Equal Too: Achieving Disability Equality features Liz Johnson, Charles Catherine, Haben Girma, Esther Verburg, Hank Prybylski, Facundo Chávez Penillas, Christina Mallon, Dan Brooke, Eddie Ndopu and Nilofar Bayat. When Sir Ludwig Guttmann formed the Paralympic movement after World War II, his vision was to use sport to rehabilitate Disabled people back into society to become taxpayers. 70 years later, how much has his vision been achieved? We will talk to experts, brand representatives, entrepreneurs, activists and athletes about their experiences, the challenges and inequality facing Disabled people around the world but also the progress and aspirations for a more equal world moving forward.
In episode four of Equal Too: Achieving Disability Equality, we’re focusing on how our modern world was not built to include everyone. The big question in this episode is: If the world around us enabled us instead of disabled us, what would that look like? Sophie Morgan speaks to Yoshihiko Kawauchi, Katie Pennick, Dr Victor Pineda, Haben Girma, Michaël Jérémiasz, Sam Latif, Christina Mallon, Esther Verburg and Sinéad Burke to find out what is being done to design a world for everyone.
Featured among the guests is Yoshihiko Kawauchi, an architect and wheelchair user who championed universal design in Japan, and who advised Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 on the design of venue construction for the Games. We’ll hear from him about his hopes for greater accessibility in Japan. Katie Pennick talks to us about the difficulty of inaccessibility in London, and how accessibility extends beyond just being able to get on public transport. Christina Mallon, head of inclusive design at Wunderman Thompson, works with brands on their inclusive advertising and marketing, and tells us about the revolutionary products she’s worked on. Esther Verburg, head of Sustainable Business and Innovation at Tommy Hilfiger, gives us the lowdown on Tommy’s groundbreaking accessible fashion line. Sam Latif, Company Accessibility Leader at P&G and a blind British woman, tells us how her lived experience and expertise resulted in company wide innovation.
In episode 3 of this special series, Equal Too, Achieving Disability Equality, we turn the spotlight on the fashion and film industries to find out why they are still playing catch-up on becoming truly representative of the disabled community. We’ll hear from Jameela Jamil, Sinéad Burke, Eryn Brown, RJ Mitte, Keely Cat Wells, Jim LeBrecht, Christina Mallon and Ellie Cole, who each have their own story to tell about ableism in fashion and media.
Jameela Jamil tells us about battling entertainment industry ableism as a performer with an invisible disability, while RJ Mitte tells us about how he purposefully normalized his disability in the early days of his career. We talk to agent Keely Cat Wells, who was denied an acting career due to her disability, and now runs a talent agency for disabled actors, and LA mega talent agent Eryn Brown, who herself has a disability and knows discrimination only too well, and has just started a campaign, ‘1 in 4’, aimed at instigating change in Hollywood. What will it take to change? In fashion, if 15% of the world is disabled, why aren’t 15% of catwalk models? Sinéad Burke who advocates for accessible design in fashion and was the first Little Person to feature on the cover of Vogue, speaks to us about what can be done.
Episode two in the series will explore how the rights of disabled people are changing and what more needs to be done to create a more equal world moving forward. Featuring Jameela Jamil, Chantal Petitclerc, Eddie Ndopu, Pilar Jauregui, Deborah McFadden, Haben Girma and Tatyana McFadden, we’ll discuss the legislative progress that has been made but also why some current legislation may not empower or protect disabled people as much as they should.
This is the first episode in a series of conversations asking how we achieve equality for disabled people. This episode takes a look back at the history and the legacy of the Paralympic Movement and the impact it has had on host cities and beyond. Featuring Paralympians, Olympians and influential figures in the Paralympic Movement, including Michael Johnson, Tanni Grey Thompson, Xavi Gonzalez, Dai Tamesue, Juan Pablo Salazar, Dan Brooke and actor RJ Mitte.
Equal Too: Achieving Disability Equality is a new special series on Seneca’s Conversations on Power and Purpose that explores many aspects of equality through the lens of sports and the Paralympics. This six-part series is produced by P&G Studios and Harder Than You Think, creators of the double Emmy Award winning documentary Rising Phoenix. The series starts with the legacy of the Paralympic movement and its lasting impact on host cities, as well as exploring important topics like the rights of disabled people, what needs to be done to create more equal opportunities and how we can all help achieve a more equal world. Notable guests include RJ Mitte, Jameela Jamil, Clare Balding, Ellie Cole and many more! This series is brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and iHeartRadio.
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