“Boldly” Takes Flight

Boldly Challenging Ableism , a new AM950 radio show and podcast series produced by the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota, debuted May 18 and quickly generated more than 2,000 downloads on just one of its platforms, in addition to several thousand radio listeners.

The 16-episode series airs Sundays at 2 p.m. on AM950 and is also available widely on YouTube , Spotify , and other podcast platforms. The series exposes ableism and dismantles myths that marginalize people with disabilities. Host Katrina Simons uses her lifelong disability and her experiences as an ICI community program specialist and a disability advocate to interview a diverse mix of guests about what real inclusion means in employment, justice, housing, education, and culture.

“When you see a new show get this kind of traction early on, I’m confident it will continue to grow,” said Chad Larson, owner and president of AM950 . “It shows that people were looking for this type of program and that they connect with Katrina and with the work that Pete and the team did with putting the show together.”

ICI’s Pete McCauley produced and directed the series at ICI’s studio in the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, with support from Skyler Mihajlov. Jerry Smith, director of marketing and communications at ICI, worked with Larson to envision the series as cross-disability content for a broad audience. The show name is a nod to the ADAPT community’s rallying cry, “To boldly go where everyone has gone before.”

“This podcast starts conversations, and the first step to eliminating any prejudice is talking about it,” said Simons. “We’re confident some of those conversations will be heard outside the disability community, and not just within it.”

McCauley is an award-winning producer who has created many film and video projects to showcase the Institute’s research and training expertise, but he said the podcast has provided a chance to focus on the ultimate purpose of that work.

“One of the things that was instrumental for me was being exposed to so many different perspectives on this idea of ableism,” he said. “Everybody with a disability is struggling against ableism, and all the work we do at ICI to provide services or training or advocacy is really about combatting ableism. We want to make people more aware that ableism exists.”

ICI produces other podcasts that each focus on specific disability research or practice topics, but Smith said the partnership with Larson allows ICI to leverage AM950’s reach.

“I saw this as an opportunity to share ICI’s work with a broader audience and highlight how we’re helping make communities more inclusive,” he said. “It’s also a great opportunity to evaluate our investment in podcasting as a way to expand our impact."

Simons singled out a few episodes in the series, including one with Joe Carr , that showed her young adults with disabilities are thinking seriously about careers in activism.

“When most people think of activists, they don’t necessarily think of activists who live with disabilities,” she said. “They might think of siblings of people with disabilities, for example, but now I think more people with visible and significant disabilities are pursuing activism as a career. People want to do more than write to their legislators, though, of course, that’s important, too. I’m just impressed that there is a younger generation with ambitions beyond. If you listen to these episodes, you can hear that they all want to make big changes happen.”