Down to the Struts

Dec 03 2024 76 ep. 28 mins 31
Down to the Struts Podcast artwork

A podcast about disability and design, where we uncover the building blocks for a more inclusive world.

  Society & Culture
RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


Employment and Disability with Amir Rahimi

Dec 03 2024 22 mins  
In the Season 9 finale, Qudsiya sits down with a dear friend and a champion of equal employment opportunity for people with disabilities, Amir Rahimi. Amir and Qudsiya talked about Amir’s journey with blindness and employment, and how he uses stand up comedy to make sense of ableism. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Visit our website⁠ ⁠for transcripts.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠�

Disabled women and economic justice with Marissa Ditkowsky

Nov 18 2024 25 mins  
Qudsiya speaks with Marissa Ditkowsky, Disability Economic Justice counsel at the National Partnership for Women and Families. Marissa and Qudsiya talk about the need to advance economic justice for disabled women, and the resources disabled women need to survive and thrive: from consumer protection to access to employment, to reproductive healthcare. And, they talk about what the

On blindness and justice with David Tatel

Nov 04 2024 20 mins  
Qudsiya sits down with retired DC Circuit Court Judge, David Tatel. Judge Tatel's recently released Book, Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice, chronicles his experiences as a civil rights lawyer, a champion for access to justice, and a jurist on our nation's second highest court. In this conversation he discusses his book and his journey with vision loss, including the dog, V

Voting accessibly with Dessa Cosma and Kenia Flores

Oct 22 2024 35 mins  
With just two weeks until the US election, access to the ballot has never been more important. But disabled people continue to face accessibility barriers when attempting to vote. This episode dives deep into the realm of voting access with Dessa Cosma and Kenia Flores of Detroit Disability Power. Dessa and Kenia walk Qudsiya through the process of conducting a polling place audi

An accessible camping adventure with Qudsiya

Oct 07 2024 29 mins  
In this episode, Qudsiya will take you on a journey with one of her favorite adaptive sports organizations that prioritizes giving blind people access to the natural world. She joined the Metro Washington Association of Blind Athletes, affectionately known as MWABA, for a bike camping adventure along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Washington DC. Thanks to a grant from the Adven

When driving is not an option with Anna Zivarts

Sep 23 2024 23 mins  
Welcome to season 9 of Down to the Struts! To kick off this season, Qudsiya sits down with Anna Zivarts, the author of When Driving Is Not An Option: Steering Away From Car Dependency. Anna shares how she has helped to build a coalition of non-drivers to create more accessible communities where disabled people, older adults, children, and so many others can move freely without a c

Trailer: Season 9 coming soon

Sep 09 2024 2 mins  
Down to the Struts is back September 24th! Listen to the trailer for a sneak peek at the questions Qudsiya will explore with our guests in season 9: Why is disabled humor so important? What would it look like to travel in a world that isn't designed with cars at the center? How can we ensure that disabled people have what they need to participate in our democracy? And how can

Recast: Making voting accessible (Season 3)

Aug 30 2024 28 mins  
Over the next few weeks, we'll be bringing back some early episodes of Down to the Struts to get ready for season 9. This episode was first broadcast in July 2021, but with a key election just months away, it couldn't be more timely now. Qudsiya sits down with Lisa Schur and Doug Kruse, both professors at Rutgers University. They discuss their research on voting access fo

Recast: Let's play goalball! (Season 1)

Aug 08 2024 48 mins  
Over the next few weeks, we'll be bringing back some early episodes of Down to the Struts to get ready for season 9. This episode, originally broadcast in November 2020, dives into the world of adaptive sports, and specifically looks at Goalball, a sport designed for blind and visually impaired people. Qudsiya is an athlete herself, and in this episode interviews Karla Gilb

Libraries transform communities with ALA president Emily Drabinski

May 07 2024 16 mins  
Qudsiya shared her love of libraries with Emily Drabinski, the president of the American Library Association. They chatted about ALA's innovative Libraries Transforming Communities program, which is dedicated to providing libraries with the tools and resources they need to be more accessible for people with disabilities, and to enhancing the capacity of small and rural librarie