Kyle Khachadurian
Yes, I am. Is it still recording? Yes, it is. Perfect.
Emily Ladau
Hi, I’m Emily Ladau, and you’re listening to another episode of The Accessible Stall.
Kyle Khachadurian
And I’m Kyle Khachadurian. Emily, what are we going to talk about today on this most auspicious, auspicious of Tuesdays?
Emily Ladau
Look, I mean, in, like, real life, like, my personal life, I’m pumped because we’re seeing each other this weekend, but reasons I’m not pumped include everything else.
Kyle Khachadurian
Oh my god, it’s so cool.
Emily Ladau
Okay, so, you know, I wanted to talk about RFK’s comments about autistic people, but then you told me something else that just blew my mind into a million little pieces, So, I think we need to talk about that first.
Kyle Khachadurian
Okay, then we’ll talk about brain worms opinions on autistic people.
Emily Ladau
Oh God.
Kyle Khachadurian
Got it.
Emily Ladau
Okay. Please tell me, or no, please tell the people what you told me.
Kyle Khachadurian
I said, I said, to Emily, This is right before we hit record, so I, ’cause initially what I wanted her to do was think about this answer, ’cause I didn’t want a surprise with the question. What I said was, “Emily, what’s more bread and circuses? “Is it the fact that Katy Perry went into low Earth orbit “for 10 minutes, or that they used 30,000 actual chicken eggs “for the White House Easter egg hunt?” And she was so shocked because she didn’t hear about the second one, and I wish you all could have seen her beautiful face I’ll doubt that that was not a joke.
Emily Ladau
I’m over here doing deep breathing exercises right now. What is that circular breathing? Imagining my calm space. Whatever other coping mechanism I can think of. But I mean, are
Kyle Khachadurian
Going to your happy place.
Emily Ladau
you for real? I want to use more expletives, but I don’t want to make you have to bleep them all out. I just… This administration is cutting vital and essential and life-sustaining services for people, but we can send Katy Perry to space for 11 minutes and use 30,000
Kyle Khachadurian
In your d*** shaped rocket.
Emily Ladau
thousand eggs? Can’t fund government departments that care for the humans that occupy this
Kyle Khachadurian
Mhm.
Emily Ladau
planet? I am absolutely floored. I am, you know, nothing surprises me, but for some reason
Kyle Khachadurian
No. Can’t be done. Impossible. Who’s to say?
Emily Ladau
the 30,000 eggs just really drives it home for me.
Kyle Khachadurian
Who… I know you’re not used to coloring Easter eggs, but I’m sure… I would be… It would surprise me if you didn’t know this. You don’t find raw eggs and you don’t color raw eggs. You boil them because children are clumsy and raw eggs, potentially, especially if kids crack them, you know, there’s a tiny risk of salmonella. It’s… are… there’s… so… it’s… they’re supposed to be plastic so that when you open them there’s like chocolate in it and stuff.
Emily Ladau
Hold on.
Kyle Khachadurian
There’s…
Emily Ladau
I knew the thing about hard boiled eggs and I guess I hadn’t really computed in my mind
Kyle Khachadurian
*gulp*
Emily Ladau
yet because you just told me like a few minutes ago. So it was just raw, breakable eggs?
Kyle Khachadurian
They might have boiled them, but the point is you’re supposed to use fake plastic eggs so that when the children find them, there’s like little… It’s like an egg toy, like in a… Like in a vending machine when we were kids, like… You know… But no. Eggs. You get yolk.
Emily Ladau
Look, the yolk is on us, okay?
Kyle Khachadurian
Would you say we have a little bit of an egg on our face?
Emily Ladau
I would say the White House has a little bit of egg on their face.
Kyle Khachadurian
That’s true.
Emily Ladau
But this is so absurd to me. Like, what a gross display of being gross. That’s the only way I can describe that. I’m so mad.
Kyle Khachadurian
There’s infinite funds to hurt people. And stick a big middle finger up at the non-existent American middle class and working class.
Emily Ladau
I just…
Kyle Khachadurian
Or non-existent middle class and perpetual working class.
Emily Ladau
And also, if I’m not mistaken, didn’t they turn the egg roll, what is it, egg roll? Egg
Kyle Khachadurian
Sure.
Emily Ladau
hunt? Egg? Easter egg roll. Yeah. I’m Jewish, forgive me. Didn’t they also turn it into a corporate branding circus? I feel like I, I think I, I feel like I read that, that they
Kyle Khachadurian
Sure did… Why not… I mean, did they? Sure, of course they did.
Emily Ladau
were selling corporate sponsorships for the Easter egg roll. I heard that. Yeah, I heard
Kyle Khachadurian
That’s good. Did you hear too that Hegseth, um, there’s a second signal chat, allegedly? That’s great. That’s good.
Emily Ladau
that. Also, yeah, I just checked, I googled it, and all of the major news outlets are
Kyle Khachadurian
[BEEP]
Emily Ladau
saying that the White House solicited corporate sponsors for the Easter egg roll. So anyway, meta for buying all the eggs that we can’t have, am I right? Okay. Look, this is all related to what I actually wanted to talk about, which is how unbelievably furious I am watching this administration dismantle basic supports and services for people, and that especially includes disabled people. And most recently, watching Health and Human Services just pick apart everything related to the disability community, including the Administration on Community Living, which served older adults and Americans with disabilities. And then there’s the matter of good old RFK just spewing whatever, excuse my language, bullsh*t he wants and fear mongering about autism.
Kyle Khachadurian
Did you see today he wants to make a registry?
Emily Ladau
He what?
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah.
Emily Ladau
You know, I spent one day not really reading the news and I’m not gonna lie to you, yeah
Kyle Khachadurian
Are you s- this is your fault? You did this?
Emily Ladau
I did this. I was responsible for this. No, actually, it’s so weird because this morning,
Kyle Khachadurian
Dammit, Emily.
Emily Ladau
every morning I get the New York Times morning newsletter and that’s how I kind of start my news diet for the day. And I read it in bed, which is a bad habit, judge me if you will, but I like dropped my phone or moved in a certain way and then I looked back at my phone and the email was gone. And so I’m thinking, like, I accidentally archived it or deleted it, but I couldn’t find it in my deleted folder, it wasn’t in spam, so whatever. It was just a weird start to the morning for me, and then I was so busy with work that I haven’t really gotten to read much news today. Not an excuse, just I haven’t heard
Kyle Khachadurian
Well, yeah, he wants to go through medical records and create a registry for people with
Emily Ladau
it. So, you see, are people familiar with this event? I think it was called the Holocaust,
Kyle Khachadurian
autism. sure there’s no ill intent behind that whatsoever.
Emily Ladau
wherein they murdered people for the crime of being disabled or…
Kyle Khachadurian
What’s that? Can you believe that myth? I am so not being serious.
Emily Ladau
Yeah, I’m not even, I’m not trying to make light of it. I’m just like, when I get a certain level of angry, I actually talk like this, rather
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, I know.
Emily Ladau
again like shouting about it. But anyway, if you haven’t kept up, which I don’t blame you honestly because I wish sometimes that I could just bury my head in the sand, but I can’t. Sir Kennedy said the other day in regard to kids with autism, “These are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
Kyle Khachadurian
You know, a little while ago, we did an episode of an ad campaign, and you and I loved it, but we were being a little facetious about it. And I think this is our eating a crow moment, ’cause I think, we were like, oh, who’s this for? It’s for RFK, actually. Turns out it’s actually for RFK Jr. I, that was one of those things that he said that was so actually unbelievable, even for him, that I went and checked to see if it was true, and then when I found the full quote, which you did read, I only saw a snippet of it, but when I found the full quote, it was like, “Oh, this is not only bad, it’s like worse.” It’s actually, I thought it was terrible, but it’s actually somehow worse than that.
Emily Ladau
Hashtag not the onion.
Kyle Khachadurian
What do you mean?
Emily Ladau
Wait, hold on. Did we talk about that? Was it the campaign for National Down Syndrome Day?
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah. Yeah, it was like, “Assume that I can, so maybe I will,” or something like that.
Emily Ladau
Was that the one? I can’t even remember if we brought that up in an episode that we actually recorded or if we just talked about it.
Kyle Khachadurian
We did.
Emily Ladau
We did?
Kyle Khachadurian
We did a whole episode on it.
Emily Ladau
Are you talking about the one that came out this year or are you talking about the one that came out last year?
Kyle Khachadurian
I think it was last year. Oh yeah. You know, Hey Bartender with Madison Tevlin, I think
Emily Ladau
Oh, yes, we did. Okay, because, oh my god, it’s already been a year,
Kyle Khachadurian
her name? Oh, cool. I mean, I haven’t seen that one. Maybe it’s…
Emily Ladau
because there was another one that just came out. It was like, give me a seat at the table or something. Or a seat at the table, it was like a whole musical number. So anyway, yeah, so people should watch that, but that’s not the point of this. The point of this, actually, let me back up here. So what you said makes a lot of sense to me, yes. that campaign, that Assume That I Can, is absolutely for people like RFK. And I think what I am learning is to temper my own frustration, because for years people have told me that I am pandering to the non-disabled community when I try to talk about disability at a 101 level, and people say that we need to be far beyond that at this point, and that we’re just coddling people. I think part of the reason that we are where we are is because we’ve tried to tug people so far into the world of understanding social justice that we missed basic understanding of the humanity of disability. I’m not blaming disabled people, Not at all. I’m just saying that I think that maybe we are so wrapped up in our idea of what’s appropriate and acceptable that we missed where the rest of the world actually is.
Kyle Khachadurian
I think that’s two different conversations, right? I think we, like in-group we, probably should not be worried. Like we could probably stand to be a little bit more forward-thinking progressive than we are, but we, us in the greater context of society, I actually don’t think that’s pandering, like at all. Because it’s so… how many special needs parents to you know. You know what I mean? Like, who, most of them have like genuinely good hearts,
Emily Ladau
Yeah.
Kyle Khachadurian
like they don’t, you know? Some of them, you know, aren’t great, but like some of them mean, most of them I would say mean really well. I mean, to be clear, I don’t know where any of them land on what RFK said, but I bet, I would bet not all of them think it’s completely ridiculous, which is unfortunate.
Emily Ladau
Yeah, and I think that that has a whole lot to do with the fact that we have not been meeting people where they are from the outset. The outset of what? I don’t know. I’m struggling to even articulate what I’m trying to say.
Kyle Khachadurian
The outset of educating them about disability, you have to kind of, in addition to gauging
Emily Ladau
Yeah.
Kyle Khachadurian
where someone is, not just politically, but how far along their journey they are, that kind of gives you a clue as to where to start, But then it’s also like how aware are you of this issue. And if you’re not aware of disability, well okay, well here’s some analogies. You can do women’s suffrage, you can do LGBT, you can do race, and they’re not all the same at all, but you have to draw those lines and it’s just this web of like where do I start. And I don’t know about you, but I find all too often, this is unfortunate, but like there are people who, you know, I would call them like capital L liberals, like they’re decent, who believe, like, “Oh, yeah, of course we should “treat people with disabilities equally. “Yeah, of course, why would I ever disagree with that?” And then they have no idea how to actually do it in practice. I’m not gonna say that’s how you end up with someone like RFK Jr., but it is like, you might hear that as someone who knows a lot about disability and go, “Oh, actually, okay, “I don’t need to educate you then. “You can stay where you are. “I don’t need to help you, you already know.” And for all you know, they’re holding onto these beliefs Because, you know, I can imagine, for example, even if you think, oh, the taxpayer thing is ridiculous, oh, the not going on a date is ridiculous, and the baseball thing is weird, I bet there’s some parents out there that would be like, well, I would love my child to be able to use the bathroom, like, independently. That would be a huge quality of life improvement for both me and my child. And all of a sudden, now, doesn’t seem that weird. To be clear, we think that’s ableist and absurd.
Emily Ladau
Well, in our usual style, there is a lot to unpack here because you have the people who are afraid of even saying the word disability, where the concept of disability is incredibly frightening to them, or where they try to act as though they are accepting of disability, but then they say, “Oh yes, I love all specially abled little angels,” or something like that.
Kyle Khachadurian
Hell yeah. Me too. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah
Emily Ladau
You know. You know. So when you think about it from that perspective, first of all, we have to get people comfortable with the concept of the idea of disability. Then we have to get people to understand that there is no singular experience of disability. And so while what RFK said is incredibly stigmatizing, we also need to understand that there are in fact disabled people who may not play baseball, who may not write a poem, who may need assistance using the bathroom. And I think we need to get to the level of understanding that those do not mean that are any less of a human being because you are unable to play baseball or use the toilet unassisted. And so I think that the best way for me to kind of articulate how I’ve been
Emily Ladau
feeling is that hardcore disability activists want people who are non-disabled to already have graduated to the level of thinking where it’s like, “Let’s talk about the nuances of ableism in what he said, because actually, it’s ableist to assume that autistic people will never play baseball, but it’s also ableist to assume that your humanity is rooted in your ability to play baseball. And I think that we have too often expected that people are already at that level of depth and nuance about disability, when in fact, what we’re still doing, like it or not, is getting people to be comfortable even saying the word disability and understanding it as a natural part of the human experience. I don’t know, is what I’m saying making sense? Like, I think we’re looking for people to be at like 105 level
Kyle Khachadurian
Yes.
Emily Ladau
and whether we like it or not, they are bare minimum 101. Yeah.
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah. At zero, zero, one. Yeah, I mean, I don’t, I was thinking too while you were talking, and this isn’t me like presuming your words, you can tell me if you disagree or not, of course you can, but like, it’s weird, I find when it comes to disability specifically, folks, non-disabled are kind of less further along than, for example, your average liberal straight guy with LGBT issues. Like, you know, might not know everything, but certainly is fine with gay marriage and doesn’t hate trans people in a way that isn’t like, in an overt way, and maybe he says something that’s a little covertly, like a little messed up, and then if you correct him, he’ll do better. there’s a lot of that in a lot of other marginalized communities I in my personal experience and also like just being observing that like you just don’t have when it comes to ableism because they don’t know what it is they just know not to say the R word because like Jane Lynch got on TV a decade ago and said you shouldn’t.
Emily Ladau
Yeah, I think you’re pointing to exactly what I’m trying to say. I think that we as a broader society have not yet reached any level of comfort with talking about or thinking about disability. And I say this all the time when I’m giving presentations, but it’s not included in history curricula, and it’s not accurately represented nearly enough in the mainstream media. And so what we are or are not learning about disability is shaping how we are or are not talking about and thinking about disability. And so it’s like a self-perpetuating cycle because if we’re not thinking about it and we don’t know how to talk about it properly, then we’re not going to be advocating to see changes in the spaces that would then in turn educate more people about disability. So we’re stuck in this self-perpetuating cycle of stigma and then we hear people make these horrible, awful comments like “RFK” and many people know this is messed up but haven’t reached to the level of being able to talk about the nuances within it. So some people might be like, “Oh, well, I guess he has a point. Yeah, those poor disabled people.” Like, there are some people who are like not going to understand why what he said is so problematic and the layers of why it is problematic. And
Kyle Khachadurian
Hello?
Emily Ladau
so my argument is that as much as we think that that one-on-one level of talking about disability is pandering to non-disabled people, and I wish we weren’t stuck there anymore. It’s like emergency level of that is where we are.
Kyle Khachadurian
100% yes. I do also find it frustrating that we are still here.
Emily Ladau
Absolutely. I am super annoyed by it. Like, to be clear, I am a huge believer in meeting people where they’re at. And my mother instilled in me the mantra that you patch more flies with honey than with vinegar. So I am going to do my best to be kind and to be understanding, but my understanding feels like it is running out. And yet right now, I think that we desperately need to hold on to that concept of meeting people where they’re at, because otherwise people can very easily be pulled in the direction of RFK.
Kyle Khachadurian
Especially because, you know, as revolting as the things that he says are, every… I’m not going to say he says something good every once in a while, but like, he’s also against artificial food dye. And a lot of people, for no reason whatsoever other than the way they feel about it are also against artificial food diets. So if that, for example, is your introduction to RFK, and lord knows it really shouldn’t be because he’s in the news all the time, but if it is, you might think, “Oh, well, I also hate that. Like, maybe this thing that he said that I know nothing about isn’t so bad. My neighbor’s kids have autism, and I can’t imagine my children leading the same lives that they do.” you know like it’s it’s
Emily Ladau
Right, like, I think I’ve heard that there’s, like, a Venn diagram of the left, the left-left, like super super left and like the super super right and you have like the crunchy liberals
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah
Emily Ladau
and you have the right wingers and there’s like overlap in the middle.
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah They both hate vaccines and like These are stereotypes like they both hate vaccines They hate red food diet like they they eat natural raw food like that that type of (beep)
Emily Ladau
Yeah and like I have bigger things to worry about than red 40 if I’m being honest with you but you know, again, there is so much misinformation that people glom onto someone who seems like he knows what he’s talking about and a lot of people are like, “Yeah, of course this guy knows what he’s talking about. He’s against things that are bad for me. Autism is bad.” What level of lacking nuance?
Kyle Khachadurian
I cannot imagine thinking that anything RFK sounds like it makes any kind of sense or that you know what he’s talking about. Truly. Like I don’t care that he hates artificial food dye, like, cool man. I would trade that for everything else you said.
Emily Ladau
You know what my real question is? And this is me being totally gossipy for a second, but you know how he had that weird like text emotional affair with that reporter?
Kyle Khachadurian
No? What?
Emily Ladau
Oh man, her name is, I think it’s Olivia Nuzzi.
Kyle Khachadurian
Dude, that’s first of all, that’s a great name.
Emily Ladau
I’m probably mispronouncing it, but anyway, she was a correspondent for New York Magazine and she was writing a profile on RFK while he was still running for the presidency and they had this affair and she was like this young, vibrant, up and coming reporter who was like constantly writing these incredible features and she was dating another reporter and she blew it all up for RFK.
Kyle Khachadurian
That’s that Kennedy smile. That’s that. That’s that Kennedy charm, baby!
Emily Ladau
Anyway, that’s not really the point of this. The point is that I really do believe that it is very easy to fall into the trap of believing that RFK has the best interests of people in varying parts of the disability community at heart. because even as we’re watching the funding being stripped away and we’re watching him say things that are dehumanizing to the point of being eugenicist ideology, and I don’t use that term lightly at all, there are far too many people who think that he is the hero
Kyle Khachadurian
No, that’s what it absolutely is. Like, make no mistake, that is what he’s doing.
Emily Ladau
that we have been waiting for and that he is going to save us from autism and vaccines and food die and, you know, make America healthy again.
Kyle Khachadurian
Save us from all of this crazy work. is like…
Emily Ladau
I know, but I’m, I’m, I don’t know how else to phrase it. I really think that there are
Kyle Khachadurian
No, no, that’s what he’s doing.
Emily Ladau
people who believe that.
Kyle Khachadurian
I’m sorry, it wasn’t a knock on you. It’s just ridiculous.
Emily Ladau
Oh, I know. And so that is where things are right now. And so I no longer accept anybody who is going to get angry if I still communicate at a disability 101 level. And do you know what really showed me that people are realizing how serious it is? When the group of organizations came out signing that letter, once again, like, we wait until
Kyle Khachadurian
Oh my god, you- sorry, yeah, go ahead, tell him.
Emily Ladau
like almost a half an hour into the episode for like bombshell, but I woke up to that
Kyle Khachadurian
Tell him.
Emily Ladau
One morning, Autism Speaks being on a letter alongside organizations like the Autistic
Kyle Khachadurian
I could not believe it. I like rubbed my eyes to make sure what I was seeing was real.
Emily Ladau
Women and Nonbinary Network and the Autistic People of Color Fund and the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, I — if I had been sitting up, I would have fallen down.
Kyle Khachadurian
That was… first of all, genuine kudos for everyone putting their differences aside for this. That must have been difficult to do. But also… wild. Right? I mean like, sorry guys, if you’re not disabled, you might not know what a MONUMENTOUS thing
Emily Ladau
Yeah.
Kyle Khachadurian
that is. Just trust us on this one, we don’t have enough time in this episode to go into why. We will someday, I promise, but just take our word for it this time. We don’t usually say that, but just give us a second.
Emily Ladau
I mean, I had to explain it to Brandon. I had to be like, “Do you know what a big deal this is?” Oh my God. But I mean, the really short version is that the vast majority of autistic people believe that Autism Speaks is in many ways a hate group because of some of the things that they have promoted over the years. And the fact that everybody just put their ideology to the side and was like, “Oh my god, RFK, WTF,” and signed onto that letter, nothing to me so far has quite demonstrated the urgency of that moment like that letter.
Kyle Khachadurian
You know what? That’s disability solidarity that you, that we, as a people, never see. Ever. Ever. And I think we need more of it. Even if nothing comes of this letter, truly. That was something that I, If you were to make me describe my disability ethics utopia, something like that would be on it, where all of these groups that kinda stand for the same, I know what’s in the speaks, it’s not Santa Claus, but all these groups in the same arena that all kinda, they don’t hate each other, but they don’t get along, and they butt heads, and they do all these things in their own respective ways, and they all kinda pretend that none of the other ones exist, stop doing that for the greater good, that would be, We’ve talked about that. Like, it was incredible.
Emily Ladau
It’s a beautiful thing. I’m going to blow it up a little bit right now though.
Kyle Khachadurian
Go ahead.
Emily Ladau
I know I’m not the only one who has said this, but there are some things that I think about, and I do believe that everybody can grow and everybody can learn and everybody can change. However, I also believe that Autism Speaks pushed the kind of rhetoric that RFK was using.
Kyle Khachadurian
Oh, of course. I mean, they’re not, they didn’t clean their hands for, with this one letter.
Emily Ladau
Right, like back in the day, Autism Speaks was notable for putting out an advertisement that is kind of hard to find now, but you can still dig it up. I think it’s called “I Am Autism” and it basically talks about autism like it’s a monster and it’s like, “I will ruin your family. I will cause you to fight with your significant other and you will get divorced and everything will be terrible and your life is garbage and I am going to destroy it.” Like, I’m kind of only half exaggerating. So, Autism Speaks very much pushed this kind of rhetoric that autism was a life-destroying, soul-destroying, you know, sentence for people, rather than that it’s simply a natural part of human existence, and I think we can’t ignore the fact that they played into getting to this point. I also think that recognizing how far is too far and working on fixing that and doing better is something incredibly admirable. And I feel like by seeing them sign on to the letter with other organizations that are really hard at work to counter these kinds of dehumanizing narratives, it’s so powerful because it’s a reminder that change can actually happen and solidarity can actually happen. And we desperately need that right now.
Kyle Khachadurian
Apropos of, well, not nothing, but for all those people that, if you’re listening to this and you’re one of those people that think, like, you know, I’m over the age of 40 and autism did not exist when I was a kid, just think about your dad or your grandpa.
Emily Ladau
*laughs* Oh boy, I have so many things I can say.
Kyle Khachadurian
Are you sure? You know, your grandpa would be like, “Come here, kids, and here, let me show you my wire collection. Don’t touch it!”
Emily Ladau
Those are thoughts I will save for another episode. But yeah, I mean, literal humanity is on the line here, and it’s scary, and I know that we’re saying some things in jest, but also, like, I’ve never been more serious.
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, this is not a joke. We’re joking with each other. This is, what we’re talking about is not a joke.
Emily Ladau
This is scary. I mean, I stay up at night over this. And the way that I feel that I can contribute in this moment is by continuing to have those 101 level conversations. And maybe people feel like that’s not enough, but right now I feel like anything that I can do to just pull people back to reason is important. On that note, what are your final takeaways?
Kyle Khachadurian
RFK sucks.
Emily Ladau
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Kyle Khachadurian
RFK sucks. Like, he really f*cking sucks. You know why he sucks? Because he’s so easy to make fun of. And I can’t do it because I’m not ableist. Which hurts me.
Kyle Khachadurian
Truly. I f*cking hate that guy. So much. And you know, I find myself saying that about many of the people the people that are in this current administration. I think perhaps all of them. Vince McMahon’s wife, what’s her name, Linda? We’re not talking about education. It’s the guy who’s the WWE
Emily Ladau
Oh yeah.
Kyle Khachadurian
guy. That guy’s wife is in control of the public schools. Dr. Oz, who is Turkish, is doing things. What’s his position? Doesn’t matter. Wow, I hate that. He’s gonna single
Emily Ladau
Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services.
Kyle Khachadurian
me out when I get to 65. Don’t worry, he’ll still be alive somehow, I guarantee it.
Emily Ladau
You feel like perhaps we should offer some context about the fact that the Turks hate the Armenians?
Kyle Khachadurian
Yes, look up the Armenian Genocide or the Armenian Holocaust. April is Armenian Awareness Month, Armenian Heritage Awareness Month, Armenian Genocide Awareness Month. Truly, look it up!
Emily Ladau
I am so aware of you.
Kyle Khachadurian
I know you are. I know you are. And it translates to Holocaust in Armenian, but we in English, the language I speak, don’t use that word because that word in this language, if you didn’t know, refers to a very specific one. Don’t come at me, I know this.
Emily Ladau
So anyway, um, let’s, yeah, let’s just, uh, dredge up a little bit of beef between groups of humans.
Kyle Khachadurian
If you’d like to support this show,
Emily Ladau
[laughs] Make the accessible stall. What?
Kyle Khachadurian
Accessible, let’s go. Go to patreon.com/theaccessiblestall and sign up and make sure that we can still do this podcast.
Emily Ladau
I’m gonna go meditate or something now.
Kyle Khachadurian
Yo, what are we gonna do next week? I’m so excited.
Emily Ladau
Okay, well, just so everybody knows…
Kyle Khachadurian
I’m gonna crush your head.
Emily Ladau
What?
Kyle Khachadurian
I’m gonna crush your head, like out of love.
Emily Ladau
You’re gonna touch my head? Yeah, you’re gonna like… Yeah, I might smush your organs.
Kyle Khachadurian
I’m so looking forward to that.
Emily Ladau
We haven’t seen each other in a while.
Kyle Khachadurian
Ooh, they’re gonna see how we interact? (laughing) That’s gonna be fun.
Emily Ladau
Our our respected partners are meeting each other for the first time.
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah. So are we.
Emily Ladau
What? Oh, I thought even we were meeting for the first time.
Kyle Khachadurian
like, we’re meeting them! no no, we know each other.
Emily Ladau
I was like, my guy, I’ve known you for more than a decade.
Kyle Khachadurian
what do you think we’re doing? oh it’s gonna be fun.
Emily Ladau
Yeah, we’re really excited. So if you made it this far in the episode and you’re interested, we’ll be posting pictures on social media.
Kyle Khachadurian
that’s all we’re gonna be doing.
Emily Ladau
Truly, we’re going to be seeing the pandas at the zoo!
Kyle Khachadurian
At the zoo, yes.
Emily Ladau
So excited.
Kyle Khachadurian
I cannot believe. I haven’t seen them yet. I’ve turned people down, because I’m like, I need…
Emily Ladau
I… oh, yes!
Kyle Khachadurian
Yes.
Emily Ladau
I’m so excited.
Kyle Khachadurian
You know what I was thinking about too? The fact that you and I are going to be the only people at that table that know each other is going to be fun for us. Especially.
Emily Ladau
See, but the way that you describe that sounds like there’s gonna be a lot of people.
Kyle Khachadurian
There’s going to be four people.
Emily Ladau
We only have one partner.
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, but like, still.
Emily Ladau
Oh, but I get what you’re saying. Like, you don’t know mine. I don’t know yours. They don’t know each other.
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah, so.
Emily Ladau
So fun.
Kyle Khachadurian
No pressure.
Emily Ladau
It’s like a socially awkward person’s nightmare.
Kyle Khachadurian
Is he?
Emily Ladau
No. Great.
Kyle Khachadurian
Good, well she ain’t either but, yeah.
Emily Ladau
Amazing. So good. OK. Anyway. Might we say, “You look so good today.”
Kyle Khachadurian
You do, and you know what you do, you can’t see her but she’s got like this rose shirt on, man. Looks so good.
Emily Ladau
I mean, Kyle is just generally always handsome.
Kyle Khachadurian
Thank you.
Emily Ladau
I just wanna smush your face. I just wanna smush it.
Kyle Khachadurian
You see this look? I call it “job interview chic.”
Emily Ladau
Ah, yes. Hire Kyle. Okay.
Kyle Khachadurian
Yeah. Yeah. Please. Please? I love you. I say that at the end of every job interview. It always works.
Emily Ladau
I would hire you. I would. I love you. I’m biased. I’m biased. Okay, but no, you all
Kyle Khachadurian
Thank you. Well, I do love you. So maybe that’s why.
Emily Ladau
really look so good today. We love you. It’s true. We do. And we’re getting through the end of the world together.
Kyle Khachadurian
We’re gonna be so insufferable next week though. Can’t wait. See you next time.