Pushing Forward with Alycia | A Disability Podcast
Alycia Anderson
117 episodes
4 days ago
Pushing Forward with Alycia | A Disability Podcast
Pushing Forward with Alycia is the weekly podcast that gives disability a voice and welcomes everyone—disabled people, allies, families, and inclusive employers—into a courageous, judgment‑free space to learn, ask questions, and advance access together. Launched June 29, 2023 and dropping new episodes every Thursday, host Alycia Anderson—disabled motivational speaker, DEI educator, entrepreneur, athlete, and storyteller—shares lived experience and amplifies voices across the global disability community. The show began as a safe, respectful space to talk honestly about difference, ableism, and belonging; that welcoming spirit remains its heartbeat today.
What You’ll Hear
From headline issues to everyday wins, we dig into DEI + disability, digital accessibility, workplace inclusion, disabling ableism, Disability Pride Month, intersectionality, airlines & disability discrimination, and so much more. If it shapes how disabled people live, learn, work, travel, play, create, love, and lead—we’re talking about it.
Nearly 100 Episodes (and Counting!)
In just two years we’ve published 98 full episodes (as of July 16, 2025) and are racing toward our 100th celebration. Recent conversations feature boundary‑breaking guests like Marsha Elle (bionic model, Billboard artist), Tiffany Yu (Diversability & The Anti‑Ableist Manifesto), Gigi Robinson (chronic illness creator & strategist), Kristen Anderson (global inclusive leadership champion), Isaac Harvey MBE (East London influencer & entrepreneur), and many more advocates, athletes, artists, policy shapers, siblings, caregivers, and allies you’ll love meeting.
Who It’s For
Whether you identify as disabled, are new to advocacy, support a disabled loved one, or lead teams striving to build a more inclusive workplace, you’ll leave each episode with insight, language, and actionable takeaways you can bring to classrooms, boardrooms, events, and everyday life. Our mission is to be a safe place to learn, share, ask “no wrong” questions, and transform awkwardness into connection.
Listen & Support
Follow, subscribe, share, rate, and review to help amplify disability inclusion. Sign up for release alerts, suggest a guest, and bring Alycia to speak or train your organization in disabling ableism. However you engage, you’re helping open hearts and clear paths for all of us. Open hearts, clear paths. Let’s go.
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Pushing Forward with Alycia | A Disability Podcast
Pushing Forward with Alycia is the weekly podcast that gives disability a voice and welcomes everyone—disabled people, allies, families, and inclusive employers—into a courageous, judgment‑free space to learn, ask questions, and advance access together. Launched June 29, 2023 and dropping new episodes every Thursday, host Alycia Anderson—disabled motivational speaker, DEI educator, entrepreneur, athlete, and storyteller—shares lived experience and amplifies voices across the global disability community. The show began as a safe, respectful space to talk honestly about difference, ableism, and belonging; that welcoming spirit remains its heartbeat today.
What You’ll Hear
From headline issues to everyday wins, we dig into DEI + disability, digital accessibility, workplace inclusion, disabling ableism, Disability Pride Month, intersectionality, airlines & disability discrimination, and so much more. If it shapes how disabled people live, learn, work, travel, play, create, love, and lead—we’re talking about it.
Nearly 100 Episodes (and Counting!)
In just two years we’ve published 98 full episodes (as of July 16, 2025) and are racing toward our 100th celebration. Recent conversations feature boundary‑breaking guests like Marsha Elle (bionic model, Billboard artist), Tiffany Yu (Diversability & The Anti‑Ableist Manifesto), Gigi Robinson (chronic illness creator & strategist), Kristen Anderson (global inclusive leadership champion), Isaac Harvey MBE (East London influencer & entrepreneur), and many more advocates, athletes, artists, policy shapers, siblings, caregivers, and allies you’ll love meeting.
Who It’s For
Whether you identify as disabled, are new to advocacy, support a disabled loved one, or lead teams striving to build a more inclusive workplace, you’ll leave each episode with insight, language, and actionable takeaways you can bring to classrooms, boardrooms, events, and everyday life. Our mission is to be a safe place to learn, share, ask “no wrong” questions, and transform awkwardness into connection.
Listen & Support
Follow, subscribe, share, rate, and review to help amplify disability inclusion. Sign up for release alerts, suggest a guest, and bring Alycia to speak or train your organization in disabling ableism. However you engage, you’re helping open hearts and clear paths for all of us. Open hearts, clear paths. Let’s go.
The Future We Choose: Tony Coelho, the ADA, and America’s Next Chapter
Pushing Forward with Alycia | A Disability Podcast
35 minutes
1 month ago
The Future We Choose: Tony Coelho, the ADA, and America’s Next Chapter
In this episode of Pushing Forward with Alycia, I sit down with the Honorable Tony Coelho, retired U.S. Congressman and the principal author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, for a conversation that reaches far beyond disability policy. It’s a history lesson, a civics class, and a moral compass all in one thirty minute session.
As a nation founded in defiance of oppression and animated by the promise of freedom, we need the values in this conversation now—dignity, equal access, and the courage to stand up to power with truth and love. This is not just a disability story; it’s a blueprint for renewing the American experiment. Tony’s story is America’s story: perseverance in the face of stigma, faith in community, and courageous, bipartisan coalition-building that turned lived experience into law. He reminds us that the ADA wasn’t a gift; it was won through testimony, organizing, and unlikely alliances that honored human dignity over party lines. He also offers a clear charge for today: rights on paper are meaningless without enforcement, and opportunity is the measure of whether our promises are real.
As we begin our celebration of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) let us remember we can’t afford to ignore the warnings of our past. If we don’t learn from history, we are bound to repeat it.
Key Points on the Clock
00:00 Introduction to Pushing Forward with Alycia
00:26 Meet Tony Coelho: Champion of Disability Rights
02:41 Tony's Personal Journey with Epilepsy
07:30 Finding Purpose and Entering Politics
16:32 Crafting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
26:15 The Impact and Future of the ADA
32:55 Final Thoughts and Farewell
A Quote by Tony
“ Give me the opportunity to fail... then I may be able to succeed.” ~ Hon. Tony Coelho
What You’ll Find in this Episode
👋 Meeting a Legend
🌿 The Personal and Spiritual Journey
💔 Heartfelt Dilemma: Love or Respect
🎠 A Merry-Go-Round Changed Everything
🚪 The Power of Opportunity
🔥 Unstoppable Commitment
🏛️ A Legacy of Advocacy
💡 The Inspiration Behind the ADA
🛡️ The ADA as Our Life Insurance Policy
💖 Love Yourself: The Ultimate Key to Empowerment
Connect with the Hon. Tony Coelho
Tony's Website | Tony on X
Follow Up with Alycia
Share Feedback with Alycia About the Podcast | Follow Alycia on Instagram | Connect with Alycia on LinkedIn | Book Alycia for a Speaking Event | Inquire on How Alycia Can Train Your Employees in Disabling Ableism | Buy Alycia’s Disability Inclusion Micro Learning Video Series
Editor’s Note (Context Matters)
This conversation with the Hon. Tony Coelho was recorded on August 12, 2025, more than a month before today’s release. Since then, the landscape has shifted dramatically. As of October 1, 2025, the U.S. federal government has shut down after Congress failed to pass a funding bill. (The government shutdown took effect just 24 hours before this episode’s release)
At the heart of this stalemate are health-care provisions, including Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies and Medicaid funding. Lawmakers’ dispute over extending ACA subsidies and reversing recent Medicaid/ACA cuts is a central driver of the impasse, with multiple outlets reporting that the shutdown fight is fundamentally about these health-care stakes.
Why this matters here: ACA and Medicaid policy is inseparable from disability rights. Analyses from leading health policy organizations and advocates show that millions of people with disabilities rely on Medicaid and ACA Marketplaces for coverage; proposed cuts or subsidy expirations would raise premiums sharply and put essential services and community-based supports at risk.
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Pushing Forward with Alycia | A Disability Podcast
Pushing Forward with Alycia | A Disability Podcast
Pushing Forward with Alycia is the weekly podcast that gives disability a voice and welcomes everyone—disabled people, allies, families, and inclusive employers—into a courageous, judgment‑free space to learn, ask questions, and advance access together. Launched June 29, 2023 and dropping new episodes every Thursday, host Alycia Anderson—disabled motivational speaker, DEI educator, entrepreneur, athlete, and storyteller—shares lived experience and amplifies voices across the global disability community. The show began as a safe, respectful space to talk honestly about difference, ableism, and belonging; that welcoming spirit remains its heartbeat today.
What You’ll Hear
From headline issues to everyday wins, we dig into DEI + disability, digital accessibility, workplace inclusion, disabling ableism, Disability Pride Month, intersectionality, airlines & disability discrimination, and so much more. If it shapes how disabled people live, learn, work, travel, play, create, love, and lead—we’re talking about it.
Nearly 100 Episodes (and Counting!)
In just two years we’ve published 98 full episodes (as of July 16, 2025) and are racing toward our 100th celebration. Recent conversations feature boundary‑breaking guests like Marsha Elle (bionic model, Billboard artist), Tiffany Yu (Diversability & The Anti‑Ableist Manifesto), Gigi Robinson (chronic illness creator & strategist), Kristen Anderson (global inclusive leadership champion), Isaac Harvey MBE (East London influencer & entrepreneur), and many more advocates, athletes, artists, policy shapers, siblings, caregivers, and allies you’ll love meeting.
Who It’s For
Whether you identify as disabled, are new to advocacy, support a disabled loved one, or lead teams striving to build a more inclusive workplace, you’ll leave each episode with insight, language, and actionable takeaways you can bring to classrooms, boardrooms, events, and everyday life. Our mission is to be a safe place to learn, share, ask “no wrong” questions, and transform awkwardness into connection.
Listen & Support
Follow, subscribe, share, rate, and review to help amplify disability inclusion. Sign up for release alerts, suggest a guest, and bring Alycia to speak or train your organization in disabling ableism. However you engage, you’re helping open hearts and clear paths for all of us. Open hearts, clear paths. Let’s go.
