We have wanted to talk about disability and parents on this show for a long time. Specifically, the dynamic between an able-bodied parent and a disabled child. There were just two small problems: We are not parents, and we are disabled. Therefore, we had to bring in someone who knows that dynamic first-hand. The internet has tons of blogs written by parents of children with disabilities, but very few get the official Accessible Stall seal of approval. So, in this episode, we sat down with Ellen Seidman, the author of Love That Max. Enjoy! A transcript for this episode can be found here.

Who is Ellen Seidman?

Ellen Seidman runs the popular disability “mom blog” called Love That Max. She started this blog in 2008 and has been keeping it up to date since then. Aside from the fact that that’s an accomplishment in itself, she talks about her son Max who has cerebral palsy. She’s also super fun to talk with and an amazing podcast guest!

Why have a parent on the show?

We’ve talked about groupthink and defining ourselves as a community before to break down what it means to be “in” the disability community. Part of the reason we do this show is to bridge gaps by having honest conversations. Right now, there’s a huge gap between parents of people with disabilities, and people with disabilities ourselves. We thought this conversation needed to happen in order for everyone to learn from each other. Plus, hearing Ellen’s journey of learning about disability through her son is just plain cool. We get into some of the uglier parts of disability in this episode too, which is something we think is not talked about often enough.

This Ellen Seidman person sounds cool, where can I find her?

You can find Ellen at the links above, as well as on Facebook here, and on Twitter here.