[episode cut] The Art of Difference: Disability, Neurodiversity and the ADA Legacy

This month on Laura Flanders & Friends we’re lifting up the people, the stories, and the ideas driving disability justice forward.  This week, two artists expand our ideas about beauty, mobility and inclusion.

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Description:  As the nation marks another anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), disability advocates are calling attention to the work still left undone—from expanding accessibility and representation in public life to protecting disability rights and ensuring equitable access to the arts. In this episode, Laura Flanders speaks with two groundbreaking performance artists whose work challenges assumptions about disability, creativity, and who gets to belong in our cultural spaces.

Alice Sheppard, acclaimed wheelchair dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of Kinetic Light, and Jess Thom, performer, comedian, and founder of Touretteshero, explore how disability and neurodiversity expand artistic possibility rather than limit it. Through their work, they invite audiences to rethink conventional ideas of beauty, access, productivity, and "normalcy."

In conversation with Laura, they examine the role of art in advancing social change, the importance of disabled leadership in cultural institutions, and why accessibility should be understood not as an accommodation for a few, but as a creative and democratic practice that benefits everyone. At a moment when disability rights, inclusive design, and authentic representation remain pressing civic issues, Sheppard and Thom offer a vision of a richer, more imaginative society—one that recognizes difference as a source of collective strength, innovation, and cultural vitality.

Guests: 

• Alice Sheppard: wheelchair dancer and choreographer, artistic director, Kinetic Light.
• Jess Thom: performer, comedian and founder of Touretteshero.

 

Watch the episode released on our YouTube channel; PBS World Channel 11:30am ET Sundays and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode); and airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast.

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

•Design for Justice: Disabled Hackers are Leading the Way

•Special Report: Ableism Out, Independent Living Now!

•F-Word: Inclusive Design and Me

Related Articles and Resources:

• • “I Dance Because I can.” by Sheppard, Alice, The New York Times, February 27th, 2019. 
• • “Road Map for Inclusion: Changing the Face of Disability in Media” by Heumann E, Judith, The Ford Foundation, April 2019. 
• •Risk Pool. Triple Canopy, Issue #24. Published from January 17, 2018 to April 25, 2019.
• •“When it come to sex, are your Sins Invalid?” by Silverberg, Cory. Interview with  Sins Invalid founders Leroy Moore and Patricia Berne. •Touretteshero
• Welcome to Biscuit Land: A Year in the Life of Touretteshero by Jess Thom

Bios:

Alice Sheppard is the Artistic Director of Kinetic Light, as well as a choreographer and dancer in the company.  Read More

Jess Thom, British performer, comedian and activist. Thom created Touretteshero to increase awareness of and expand perceptions of what is possible with Tourette’s Syndrome. Read More

 

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Director; Jea