5 Podcast Recommendations Celebrating Disability Pride Month 2025

By: Tosin Sulaiman of Made For Us Podcast

July is Disability Pride Month, and this year marks the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law on July 26, 1990. The landmark civil rights legislation ensures people with disabilities enjoy the same rights as everyone else and prohibits discrimination in employment, transportation, and public facilities.

The selected podcast episodes below take you behind the protests that led to the bill's passage, introduce you to a woman sometimes described as the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of the disability rights movement, and explore how the fight for equal opportunities continues.

Podcasts Celebrating Disability Pride

The History Hour

Episode to start with: The Americans with Disabilities Act and the invention of GPS

This episode brings the events of 1990 to life through the voices of activists who took part in what became known as the Capitol Crawl — when hundreds of protesters abandoned their wheelchairs and crawled up the steps of the Capitol to demand lawmakers pass the ADA after nearly two years of stalling. As Anita Cameron, one of the protesters, put it, “I felt like we were crawling into the history books.”

Have You Met Her?

Episode to start with: Episode 10: Judith Heumann

Just as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was synonymous with the civil rights movement, you can't discuss disability rights without mentioning Judith Heumann. Known as the “mother" of the disability rights movement, Heumann contracted polio as a child and overcame significant barriers throughout her life, including being denied entry to school at age five because she was deemed a "fire hazard." This episode of Have You Met Her, which spotlights “lesser-known women in history,” will leave you wanting to know more about Heumann and her legacy.

The Heumann Perspective podcast cover art

The Heumann Perspective

Episode to start with: Bringing Your Whole Authentic Self with Molly Burke

A natural next step is Judith Heumann's own podcast — specifically this episode where she interviews content creator and disability advocate Molly Burke. Recorded just weeks before Heumann's death on March 4, 2023, the conversation is a fascinating look at how disability activism has evolved and the new generation of disabled creators like Burke who are carrying on Heumann's legacy.

Big Take

Episode to start with: The Americans With Disabilities Making Under Minimum Wage

Although the ADA has been pivotal in protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities, the struggle for equal opportunities continues. Many American workers with disabilities are paid below the federal minimum wage — some as little as a few cents an hour. As this Big Take episode explains, that's perfectly legal due to a section of the Fair Labor Standards Act that Congress passed in 1938 as part of the New Deal. The ADA didn't address this practice, but there have been many attempts to repeal it.

Made For Us

Episode to start with: Fixing the disability data gap: why inclusive AI starts with better data | Ariana Aboulafia

One thing the authors and supporters of the ADA couldn't have anticipated 35 years ago was AI's impact on people with disabilities. That's now a growing focus for the disability rights movement, as this episode from my own podcast, Made For Us, explores. It examines AI's disability data gap and how this can lead to biased algorithmic hiring systems, while also showing how to build fairer systems.

These five podcast episodes episodes break down barriers, literally and figuratively, when it comes to disability rights, identity, and activism. From historic protests to modern-day advocacy in tech and AI, this playlist explores how far we've come and how far we still have to go. Whether you're here to honor Disability Pride Month, learn from the voices shaping the movement, or just hear incredible stories of resilience and power, this list is a powerful place to start. Equal rights aren’t a given. They’re a fight. These conversations show you why.

5 Podcast Recommendations Celebrating Disability Pride