Kyle Khachadurian:
This episode is sponsored by ABLEnow, tax-advantaged savings accounts for eligible individuals with disabilities.
Emily Ladau:
Have you been meaning to set up an ABLEnow account? It’s easier than you might expect.
Kyle Khachadurian:
The application is entirely online, so it can be completed anytime from the comfort of your own home. Many ABLEnow customers say that enrollment takes just a few minutes.
Emily Ladau:
ABLEnow is available to qualified individuals in all 50 states. Learn if you or someone you know is eligible for an ABLEnow account at ablenow.com.
I am Emily Ladau.
Kyle Khachadurian:
And I am Kyle Khachadurian.
Emily Ladau:
And you’re listening to another episode of The Accessible Stall.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Emily, what are we going to talk about today?
Emily Ladau:
You know what?
Kyle Khachadurian:
What?
Emily Ladau:
We’re going to talk about the ad that absolutely everyone is talking about, and I feel like by the time we put this episode on the internet, everyone’s going to be like, “Yeah, we already heard about it.”
Kyle Khachadurian:
I’m going to put this one up quickly so that they can’t say that. That won’t stop them. But, yes, the Down syndrome Assume That I Can add by CoorDown. It’s freaking great.
Emily Ladau:
Oh, my God, okay, so Kyle messaged me and he was like, “Emily, I got some content from which we can create content.” And I was like, “Oh boy, here we go.” Because, you know what, I’m always assuming the worst. I’m not a pessimist, but when it comes to disability representation, I unfortunately skew in the direction of, well, this is not going to be good. I don’t know, am I alone?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Because it never is. I can count on one hand the amount of disability ads that I’ve seen that have been good.
Emily Ladau:
And then suddenly out of the abyss comes this incredible ad, and I really love it and I’m really excited about it. So can we talk about it?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah, let’s talk about it, because, honestly, more than anything else, it’s refreshing. You can tell that whoever was in charge of this did all the homework to the point where if I were to find out that the person leading this did not have Down syndrome, I wouldn’t mind because they clearly did every ounce of research that they needed to do. It is just so excellent, honestly. We’re going to gush about it for about a half hour, guys. Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.
Emily Ladau:
Oh, do we need to recap this for anyone who…
Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh yeah, probably. I think so, yeah.
Emily Ladau:
Okay. Well, actually, can we back up for a second? Because I feel like I need to blow up CoorDown’s spot a little bit. So back in 2016, I believe it was, CoorDown released this ad, they seem to do this every year for World Down Syndrome Day, but their ad in 2016 had Olivia Wilde, the actor, and it was basically her speaking on behalf of a person with Down syndrome.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Really?
Emily Ladau:
Yeah. The whole premise of the ad is that a person with Down syndrome is speaking, but Olivia Wilde is the one who’s living out the narration. And so it’s basically like you can’t see disability, and instead you see this perfect ideal of an actor, and it’s supposed to be like, “Oh, well, you don’t need to see disability.”
Kyle Khachadurian:
They’ve turned over a new leaf. They’ve learned at some point.
Emily Ladau:
I wrote an article critiquing it because I was upset about it, because I feel like that advertisement felt like it was erasure of disability. And there was an actor with Down syndrome who was voicing it, and I believe her name is Anna Rose, and it was instead like Olivia Wilde doing this and Olivia Wilde doing this, but what if it was like Olivia Wilde and Anna Rose both doing things together instead of Olivia Wilde is the ideal that we aspire to be because we are imperfect as disabled beings?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Which doesn’t even make sense anyway, because Olivia Wilde is beautiful, and even if you’re not disabled, she would probably be thought of as a prototypical beautiful woman for any person.
Emily Ladau:
Sorry, I just sprang this on you-
Kyle Khachadurian:
No, no, no, no. It’s context I didn’t have. It’s perfect.
Emily Ladau:
As you said CoorDown, I was like, “Where have I heard this before? Where have I heard this before?” And then I was like, “Oh my God, because they do this every year.” But I think finally they got it right. So basically Assume That I Can is… How would you describe it? Flipping the script of the assumptions that are usually made about disabled people?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yes, but in a way that is in itself subversive. I think that most people don’t realize that they are doing the thing that the actress in the ad is saying that they’re doing. Where if you assume that someone can’t do something, they will end up doing, that’s something like it’s a very unintentional harm that is very real. I’m not saying it doesn’t also happen intentionally all the time, because it does, but I think that is something that most people have done to a disabled person completely without realizing it.
Emily Ladau:
Totally. And I actually talk about this a lot in my presentations. There was a phrase that actually came out of the No Child Left Behind era. It was by a Bush speechwriter, [inaudible 00:06:41]
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah, we did a whole episode about it.
Emily Ladau:
And I think that the phrase works in so many contexts, especially in the context of disability, because we’re subjecting to that all the time. It’s that belief that you can’t do something, which then perpetuates the fact that we don’t do it, which then perpetuates the assumption that we can’t do it because we’re not doing it, because you assumed that we can’t, so it’s just a whole cyclical situation. So how exciting is it to see something good, something just really good about disability? I can’t remember the last time I was so jazzed about something.
Kyle Khachadurian:
I can’t either. There was a Maltesers ad for the Paralympics in 2016, but that was funny. That was funny. You know what I mean? It wasn’t exactly a call to action or a PSA that I was like, “Oh yeah, good for you.” This was the first of this kind of thing that I can remember ever being good at all, and I was so happy and so relieved weirdly that I rushed to Messenger to talk to you about it.
Emily Ladau:
Should we explain the Maltesers ad? Is there a PG way to explain the Maltesers ad?
Kyle Khachadurian:
There is a group of people at a table, and they’re enjoying Maltesers, which is the British form of what we know in the US as Whoppers, and they’re way better, by the way, you should find them if you can. They’re really good. And one of the ways that somebody who happens to use a wheelchair gets the Maltesers out of the bag is they shake it in a very suggestive way, and the people that she’s sitting with make comments about it. And it’s a big joke because you have to do that to get the Maltesers out of the bag and they rib her about it. And it’s an obvious wink and a nod. And the fact that it’s the person with the disability doing it is like this little like, “Hey, we have sex too,” and it’s really cool, but it’s funny. This is not funny. This is like, “Look at me. I’m here. I can do things,” and it’s just awesome. I love it.
Emily Ladau:
Okay. It’s like a little funny for second.
Kyle Khachadurian:
It is a little funny, yeah.
Emily Ladau:
When she’s like, “Shakespeare.” [inaudible 00:09:21] me out.
Kyle Khachadurian:
It’s fine. But I love that part though, because that’s not just gratuitous swearing. I think that is a point. Because I think people, we know, I’m not telling you anything we don’t know, but people tend to infantilize us unintentionally or otherwise. And swearing is a thing that adults do typically. Kids do it too. I don’t know why there was a thumbs down on my screen.
Emily Ladau:
Didn’t we have this happen last time?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh yeah, I got totally distracted, but I didn’t do anything.
Emily Ladau:
I can’t get it to do it on mine.
Kyle Khachadurian:
That was just the computer telling me that kids swear too, I guess, but it’s thought of as something that only adults should do. And people don’t think of adults with disabilities as adults most of the time, especially people with intellectual disability. Let’s be real, you don’t.
Emily Ladau:
I am glad you brought that up actually, because I was just talking with someone the other day and I find that, I feel like I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, but I’m just going to say it, older people with physical disabilities and people who sustained an injury instead of being born disabled very often are the ones I encounter making the distinction of saying, “I’m physically disabled, but I’m not intellectually disabled.” And they need you to know that just because you’re in a wheelchair doesn’t mean you have an intellectual disability. And, yes, factually, absolutely that is an accurate statement for many people, but I just feel like there’s this inclination that physically disabled people have to be like, “But my brain works.”
Kyle Khachadurian:
I’ve seen that from older people, and I’m not older people, but I can tell you I have felt the need to justify that in my own life because of assumptions that people would make about me hearing the term cerebral palsy. And I have to do it in a way that makes me defensive, which makes me sound like I’m saying that IDD is a bad thing, and it’s like, “No, no, no, I’m not. I’m just telling you because you seem to care.” But I get that, because I’m not justifying it, but I see why you would do that, because I feel like back in the day that being disabled meant more than just somebody in a wheelchair, I think. I don’t know. That’s where my mind went. I don’t know if that’s true, but… I don’t know.
Emily Ladau:
I think the challenge that I run into is I do want to make the distinction that just because I am a wheelchair user does not mean that I have a cognitive disability. But the reason I want to make that distinction is not placing a value judgment on cognitive disability. It’s because that’s literally not how disability works. But the assumption is when you look at someone who appears disabled in some way, you automatically connect everything in your mind and don’t make the distinction that disability shows up in different ways in different people. And I guess the reason that I bring that up is because this ad does an excellent job of pointing to all of the assumptions that people make about people with intellectual disability and how harmful that can be, and I think that we do it an injustice sometimes in the physically disabled community by perpetuating it and being like, “No, I’m not cognitively…”
Kyle Khachadurian:
I’m not one of them, yeah.
Emily Ladau:
And I hate that.
Kyle Khachadurian:
No, me too.
Emily Ladau:
I needed to name that.
Kyle Khachadurian:
It doesn’t help that we’re too physically disabled podcasters talking about something that clearly isn’t for us, but I do think… No, no, I’m poking fun, because I really do think that there is a pan disability lesson to learn about this, because I think this does happen mostly to people with IDD, but I don’t think it happens only to people with IDD at all. I think each one of those things have happened to both of us. Everything mentioned in that ad has happened to both of us, for sure.
Emily Ladau:
I think it’s just that assumption that disabled people are delicate flowers and that we are not worthy of the term dignity of risk, basically the idea that everybody has a right to do something risky and everybody has a right to fail at that. We all have the right to make mistakes. And I’m not saying that anything in that ad is a mistake, drink a margarita, punch a punching bag, learn Shakespeare, cool, have sex, none of that’s a mistake, but what I’m saying is that you have the right to do things in your life. Whether or not you think you’re going to succeed or someone else thinks you’re going to succeed, you should be able to experience those things.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh, I love it. I just love it.
Emily Ladau:
How do we get this?
Kyle Khachadurian:
How do we get more of this? Well, I don’t know. I more than anything other than an interview with the main actress in that would love to have been in their production meetings. I want to know exactly how everyone around that table came up with that and did what they did.
Emily Ladau:
I agree with you. And we also need to pause for a word from our sponsor.
Kyle Khachadurian:
ABLEnow, those guys are great.
Emily Ladau:
This episode is sponsored by ABLEnow, tax advantage savings accounts for eligible individuals with disabilities.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Have you been meaning to set up an ABLEnow account? It’s easier than you might expect.
Emily Ladau:
The application is entirely online, so it can be completed any time from the comfort of home. Many ABLEnow customers share that enrollment takes just a few minutes.
Kyle Khachadurian:
ABLEnow accounts help eligible individuals and their family save their own money without endangering certain disability benefits that are critical for health and independence.
Emily Ladau:
With ABLEnow, it’s never been easier to invest in your future. For so many people, opening an ABLE account is an important step in self-determination and financial independence. It’s an opportunity for individuals with disabilities to save just like anyone else.
Kyle Khachadurian:
ABLEnow is available to qualified individuals in all 50 states. Learn if you or someone you know is eligible for an ABLEnow account at ablenow.com
Emily Ladau:
ABLEnow, still great.
Kyle Khachadurian:
It always sounds weird before we put the… Because it’s going to sound fine in the finished product, but we’re just sitting here staring at each other for a couple seconds.
Emily Ladau:
I know. I was about to say, the behind the scenes on that, we already have the advertisement recorded and then we just pop it in.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Those guys are great though.
Emily Ladau:
Weird. Wait, Kyle, what is going on outside your window?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh, nothing. Courtney’s playing a video game and the lights from the screen is…
Emily Ladau:
Okay.
Kyle Khachadurian:
She’s in the other room, but it’s coming off of this screen.
Emily Ladau:
Oh, okay. Wait, what? She in another room, but there’s stuff on your screen?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah, she can’t be in here. She’s streaming it to herself.
Emily Ladau:
Okay. Understood. I know everybody really cared about that.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Well, just so everyone knows, there was flashes of various shades of red and white on my face, and Emily probably thought that there was some huge emergency going outside my window that I was just blissfully ignoring.
Emily Ladau:
Yeah, I was like, “Are we in trouble here?” But anyway, I think the ad hits particularly close to home for me right now, to go back to it, because lately I feel like people have been making a lot of assumptions about what I can and can’t do, and I’m having a hard time with that. And I’ll give an example. And I am calling out my family. So I moved to a new apartment with my boyfriend and I had a little bit of a setback where I was injured, so I went back to meet with my parents while I was rehabbing my ankle, because I had fractured it and sprained it and it was a mess, but I was there for a month. I’m back now in my apartment, have been for a week, and I was chatting with my family on Zoom, my whole family, and they were asking me if I cooked dinner or whatever. And then I think one of them started laughing at that concept of me cooking dinner.
And then my mom, I sent her a picture of the dinner that in fact my boyfriend and I did cook, and she was like, “Oh, did you order in or did you make that?” And I was like, “I made it.” And it’s just it’s that frustrating assumption of, oh, she can’t cook for herself, she can’t be a functional human adult. And, also, I just want to clarify, first of all, that being a functional human adult means different things to different people. In my case, I am able to cook. It is challenging, yes, to get around the kitchen, but it is something that I can do. My point is just that I hate that people are assuming that I can’t do something. Don’t assume, don’t laugh at the concept of me cooking.
Yeah, I will probably make a mess and maybe it’s not going to taste gourmet, but I can do it and I have done it, and I’m still doing it, and, no, I’m not ordering takeout every night. Also, I feel the urge to say that if somebody needs to order takeout because it’s more accessible, leave them alone. But in my case, stop making assumptions about me. Okay, wow. Really rant over.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Well, thank you for the justification of me ordering takeout tonight. It’s nothing to do with accessibility and all to do with the fact that we just ordered groceries and I don’t feel like cooking.
Emily Ladau:
[inaudible 00:20:37] would always do that. We would get takeout on grocery night.
Kyle Khachadurian:
We never did that growing up because I come from a family of cheapskates and I am a cheapskate, but let me tell you, I’m breaking that cycle just a little bit in that exact way. I feel so guilty doing it, but oh, it’s so fun. Oh my God, if you’ve never tried it, you got to try it.
Emily Ladau:
I know it’s a silly thing, but it’s just like…
Kyle Khachadurian:
It feels like something you shouldn’t do.
Emily Ladau:
The effort of grocery shopping.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh, dude, I know. My question though, it’s going to sound silly, and I promise I’m not being funny, was your family member being judgmental because it’s like, “Oh, Emily doesn’t know how to cook,” or were they being judgmental because they were like, “Oh, Emily can’t cook.”? Because those are different things to me. Was the assumption that you’re a disgusting cook and you don’t know what you’re doing? Or is the assumption that you can’t do it because you’re disabled? Because both of those are not cool.
Emily Ladau:
I think it’s more like, “Oh, she’s disabled and lazy.”
Kyle Khachadurian:
Okay. All right then.
Emily Ladau:
So it’s like could do it but not doing it, and it’s like could do it, am doing it.
Kyle Khachadurian:
What did you have? What was it? What was it?
Emily Ladau:
It was salsa chicken that night. Basically my boyfriend and I, we put the chicken in the instant pot with some salsa, and then we cooked some brown rice, and we shredded the chicken, and we had pinto beans with it and sour cream and cheese, and it was delicious. And I just take great umbrage with the fact that there’s an assumption that I can’t cook, but anyway, all of that circles back to the ad, because it is frustrating when people think that disability just precludes you from doing something. And I need to emphasize that cooking or not being able to physically cook is not a mark in your character. You know what I mean? Not at all. But in this case it’s something that I have tackled and I don’t want people to judge me.
Kyle Khachadurian:
I love that the ad included activities that a certain portion of non-disabled people would consider to be dangerous and or risky. The learning Shakespeare thing, cool, that’s expected.
Emily Ladau:
[inaudible 00:23:10] Pretty risky.
Kyle Khachadurian:
No, I just mean to say-
Emily Ladau:
[inaudible 00:23:12].
Kyle Khachadurian:
Drinking and having sex and getting into a boxing ring are decidedly adult activities, and it was just that extra layer that you can’t possibly spin that in a way that was like, “Oh, well, she wasn’t actually…” No, she was actually, she was actually, because she did actually. And honest to God, no notes, perfection.
Emily Ladau:
Although, okay, I am going to just devil’s advocate a second here.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Okay.
Emily Ladau:
So there is the part of the ad where there’s the thing about assuming that she can’t move out and live on her own, and I just feel the need to underscore that absolutely that is a viable option for disabled people, but if you do need support and you need to live on your own, I feel like that’s okay too. So I think the assumptions are less about what a person can and can’t do, and more about whether something makes you less of a person. I don’t know if I was devil’s advocating here so much as I was just pointing out that maybe there’s a slight way to rethink the ad.
Kyle Khachadurian:
I think the reason they did that though is because when you’re making a point in 60 seconds, you got to really make that point. There’s nuances to everything, of course. There’s no shame in living with family or living with an in-home care aid, or if you know have HCBS services, or if you don’t drink and don’t have sex, those are all fine and don’t make you any less of an adult if you are an adult, but I sure love that they put that all there, I really do. It’s so great.
Emily Ladau:
I think I so often feel this need to do all the buts and the what-ifs and stuff like that, and the reason is just because I feel like there’s always that subset of disabled people who are like, “This doesn’t represent me and this doesn’t speak for me,” and how do you balance that? It’s a real question.
Kyle Khachadurian:
I don’t think the ad is supposed to represent people with Down syndrome though. I think it’s supposed to be a message to adults that have the wrong assumptions about anyone with a disability. Yes, it’s for Down Syndrome Day, yes, it’s got an actress and actress with Down syndrome in it and they’re doing decidedly adult things, but it’s not about Down syndrome really. It’s about the assumptions that people make about disabled people, the assumptions that you as a disabled person probably don’t make about yourself. So I would say that, yeah, you’re right, it doesn’t represent you, it’s not for you. I get what you’re saying though. Not everything represents everybody and we should all strive to be more inclusive, but, yes, in that particular instance I would say you’re right and that’s okay.
Emily Ladau:
Interesting. That wasn’t quite the angle that I was coming at it from, but I-
Kyle Khachadurian:
I know what you meant. No, I got you. I’m just saying, I actually think in this case that it’s pretty good that it’s not aimed as something for disabled people in the sense that we’re giving this to you in the way that a lot of these ads are, but I love the fact that it was done right. It’s so good.
Emily Ladau:
Okay, I hear that. But also disabled people could be the audience because I feel like there are plenty of disabled people who I think are just fed the message over and over and over again of you can’t do this.
Kyle Khachadurian:
If this changes the mind of the way one disabled person thinks of themselves, then this ad wins. You know what I mean? I don’t know this about you, but I know this about me and we’re both disabled, so I can make a safe guess that you’ve probably struggled with self-doubt in your life, if that changed your mind, I don’t know if it did or didn’t, but if I was much younger and I saw that, it would’ve probably helped me a little bit.
Emily Ladau:
Yeah, I think it’s a healthy reminder for people.
Kyle Khachadurian:
There you go. That’s it.
Emily Ladau:
Yeah, you are, by the very nature of existing, a capable human being in whatever way works best for you, and that’s cool to see.
Kyle Khachadurian:
In other words, you are Ken-ough
Emily Ladau:
Yep, it all comes back to Barbie, and I’m just Ken. You know what? There was not enough disability in Barbie, okay.
Kyle Khachadurian:
There really wasn’t. There wasn’t at all. There was one disabled Barbie. Was she actually disabled?
Emily Ladau:
So there was a wheelchair user in the dance scene.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah, that’s the one I’m talking about. Was she actually disabled?
Emily Ladau:
I haven’t figured out who she is. There was also a wheelchair user in a montage of different Barbies with different couriers at the very beginning, a different wheelchair user.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Okay, well, at least there’s just two of them. That’s more than we usually get.
Emily Ladau:
But that frustrates me so much because where was the Barbie with Down syndrome? Where was the Barbie with a facial difference? Where was the Barbie with a limb difference?
Kyle Khachadurian:
It’s funny because normally you expect that, where you’re surprised when it does happen, but that movie made it such a point to do it so right in every other way that it’s like, “Hey, wait a minute, you forgot something.” I love you. Greta Gerwig, you’re always perpetually invited on the show.
Emily Ladau:
She’s great, but also missed opportunity. Especially because-
Kyle Khachadurian:
Although… Sorry, go ahead. You just made me think of something, but finish your point because I don’t want to interrupt you.
Emily Ladau:
Go ahead.
Kyle Khachadurian:
You said, “Where’s the Barbie with a facial difference?” They made Weird Barbie.
Emily Ladau:
A less Weird Barbie.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Put that on the shelf for now, but I think you know where I’m going with that, because that unintentionally perpetuates the stereotype that [inaudible 00:29:46]
Emily Ladau:
… Argument that Weird Barbie is [inaudible 00:29:49] representation.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Damn i. I thought I was being original. Whatever. Well, I agree with that, because it’s the point I’m making, but no, no, no, I’m sure the article is brilliant, whoever wrote, it’s great, I’m sure, unless they’re not. The article is probably good.
Emily Ladau:
I think it was an Instagram post, but anyway.
Kyle Khachadurian:
This ads really cool.
Emily Ladau:
I don’t know. I think that the actor from the advertisement, what was her name again?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Madison Tevlin.
Emily Ladau:
Yeah, maybe she should be a Barbie.
Kyle Khachadurian:
She should be a Barbie.
Emily Ladau:
And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Being a Barbie is not an insult. Have we passed that now? Do we still think that Barbie doll is a bad thing or what?
Kyle Khachadurian:
I honestly think that I would say we did move past that, but if I’m wrong about that, I think the movie firmly has pushed us past that. You can’t have Margot Robbie be Barbie and then not move past that. There’s nothing bad. You know what I mean? If somebody said that to me, I would be like, “That’s a marker of age, honestly.” That’s right up there with putting three dots at the end of a text message to me, no offense to anyone who does that. I don’t mean that in a negative way. I just mean to say that’s one of those things.
Emily Ladau:
Assume That I Can, so maybe I will.
Kyle Khachadurian:
I like how it’s maybe I will, because maybe I’ll get into that boxing ring and get punched in the face and decide, you know what, I hate this actually, so I won’t. Oh, I love it. Even the word maybe there gives you so much agency by itself. Oh, well, we have to stop soon, but, my God, it’s so good.
Emily Ladau:
Yeah, I’m into it. And you know what else is really fun? Seeing the online enthusiasm about it, because I feel like usually when the disability community is rallying around something, it’s to be like, “This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”
Kyle Khachadurian:
We are a mopey bunch. And I’m not saying that it’s bad. We’re usually right. It’s usually bad.
Emily Ladau:
But, in this case, the pitch [inaudible 00:32:07] CoorDown, you have redeemed yourself from my sentiments several years ago. As a matter of fact, those sentiments were the year that we started this podcast. So I’m just going to go out on a limb here and say that it’s because we started this podcast.
Kyle Khachadurian:
It definitely is.
Emily Ladau:
[inaudible 00:32:30] to the entirety of the media industry.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Little did we know that we would have such a little butterfly effect if it weren’t for Whole Foods. If Amazon never bought Whole Foods and we never started this podcast, then damn it, this ad would not exist. You’re welcome everybody.
Emily Ladau:
And I’m pretty sure that was the plot of the butterfly effect. Well, not to take too much credit here.
Kyle Khachadurian:
But if you’d like to support master plans like this, just $1 a month to our Patreon ensures that all current and future world domination plans remain what?
Emily Ladau:
Accessible. You could assume that disabled people can take over the world if they want to.
Kyle Khachadurian:
It’s a good thing we don’t.
Emily Ladau:
That you know of.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Well, Emily, we’re still recording. We can’t let them know that.
Emily Ladau:
Okay, sorry. Sorry. Final takeaways?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Go watch this ad. It’s really cool.
Emily Ladau:
At this point I’m honored, but I’m sure most people have probably seen it.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah, but do it again.
Emily Ladau:
Yeah, it’s good. It’s good. I’m happy every time I see it on my feed.
Kyle Khachadurian:
This is late, I’m sorry, but I love that there’s no donate anything. There’s no anything. There’s just treat people like people. Cool, man.
Emily Ladau:
Wait, oh my God, I wish you made that point five hours ago, but it’s a great point.
Kyle Khachadurian:
I know. Me too. I love that they worked with several orgs too. It wasn’t just for one.
Emily Ladau:
And once again, we get to a very good point at the end of the episode, but an excellent point. It’s not charity. It’s not a fundraiser. Maybe it is, I don’t know, but the vibe, it is not giving fundraiser.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Not that there’s anything wrong with those, but it’s…
Emily Ladau:
Sure, your point is great, but also maybe just a reminder of humanity.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah, like a real PSA, like a genuine… Well, I guess it’s not that public, but it’s just like, “Hey…”
Emily Ladau:
Well, I’m pretty sure it’s going viral.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh, yeah. I guess that’s the P in public. I always thought it meant publicly funded, but I guess I’m silly.
Emily Ladau:
I think public service announcement is just like…
Kyle Khachadurian:
No, you’re definitely right.
Emily Ladau:
Just evolution. I don’t know.
Kyle Khachadurian:
No, I feel like you’re right. I got to be wrong about that. Anyway, you look great today. And I’m talking to you and to you, Emily, with your flower dress with the tiny little polka dots. Wait, are they still polka dots if they’re that small?
Emily Ladau:
Yeah, I think they’re still polka dots. Yeah. Thank you. And you look great in your black T-shirt and probably says something on it, but I can’t see it.
Kyle Khachadurian:
It doesn’t actually. It’s plain today.
Emily Ladau:
Oh wow. Usually you have some comment on your T-shirt or brand or something or other, I don’t know.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Oh, it’s cerebral palsy awareness month. Should have said that at the beginning.
Emily Ladau:
I’m so awareness of you. That’s what I just said.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Thank you.
Emily Ladau:
I’m so aware of you.
Kyle Khachadurian:
If you don’t wear green on the 25th, our friendship will take a 30-second break.
Emily Ladau:
I’m wearing green tomorrow. It’s not going to be the 25th.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Is it for an awareness thing?
Emily Ladau:
No [inaudible 00:36:22]
Kyle Khachadurian:
You just feel like wearing green?
Emily Ladau:
[inaudible 00:36:23] and I felt like wearing it.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Nice. Look at you planning your outfits in advance like a person. I don’t do that.
Emily Ladau:
Nah, it was new and I wanted to wear it.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Nice.
Emily Ladau:
May we say that every single one of you listening looks fantastic today.
Kyle Khachadurian:
For those that are still here, we were both about to say something at the exact same time and we both paused to let the other person say something at the exact same time, and then we both stared at each other.
Emily Ladau:
What were you going to say?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Except for you, Jennifer.
Emily Ladau:
Except for Jennifer?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah. I was going to spice it up and say… Because I usually say especially. Not to be mean to any Jennifers.
Emily Ladau:
Sorry Jennifer. I think you look swell. How did we even start this bit?
Kyle Khachadurian:
It was during the dark ages.
Emily Ladau:
Oh, was it maybe COVID and…
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yeah, it was, because everyone was just not wearing real clothes, we were all at home.
Emily Ladau:
Well, I still don’t like wearing pants.
Kyle Khachadurian:
After three years of not doing it, it’s rough.
Emily Ladau:
I had to go to Trader Joe’s today.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Nice.
Emily Ladau:
And it was hard. That’s the whole story, it was hard.
Kyle Khachadurian:
I feel that.
Emily Ladau:
Accessible parking is hard, reaching things off shelves is hard.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Being disabled is hard.
Emily Ladau:
Yes, that’s a musical. All right.
Kyle Khachadurian:
It could be.
Emily Ladau:
I think we have completely beaten the horse so dead.
Kyle Khachadurian:
All right, we’re going to stop recording, but then we’re probably going to come up with a track list of what would be… Okay. I was kidding. But actually I…
Emily Ladau:
No. The next episode is literally going to be being disabled, the musical.
Kyle Khachadurian:
No, we got to do the cure episode. This was going to be the cure episode if this ad didn’t happen. We got to do it. But we also got to do that.
Emily Ladau:
Are you ready to get canceled?
Kyle Khachadurian:
Yep, let’s go.
Emily Ladau:
All right. On that note, thanks so much for listening.
Kyle Khachadurian:
See you next time.
Emily Ladau:
Bye.
Kyle Khachadurian:
Bye.