Why are disabled people still missing from mainstream media?

In this episode of The I Can’t Stand Podcast, host Peta Hooke speaks with Susan Wood, Senior Content Manager at Spinal Cord Injuries Australia and host of Have the Nerve, about disability, media exclusion, and representation in Australia.

Susan shares her lived experience of wanting a career in news media and being repeatedly locked out of work because of inaccessibility rather than ability. Together, they explore how systemic barriers limit disabled people’s participation in media, the long-term impact on confidence and mental health, and why ambition alone is often not enough in an inaccessible world.

This conversation looks at disability through the lens of employment, storytelling, and power, and asks what needs to change so disabled voices are no longer the exception in Australian media.

Content warning: this episode includes discussion of self harm and suicidal thoughts.

Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support

Lifeline: https://www.lifeline.org.au

Connect with Susan:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-g-wood/?originalSubdomain=au

Have the Nerve Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5xxKaf3n2mupbS6zPplacy

Connect with Peta Hooke:

Instagram: @petahooke

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@petahooke

Website: www.icantstandpodcast.com

Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com

Episode Transcript:
www.icantstandpodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Storm Menzies is the founder of ByStorm Beauty, a brand on a mission to make beauty more accessible, without sacrificing style or dignity. After injuring her dominant hand at the gym, Storm realised how much dexterity is assumed in everyday makeup tools, and how often disabled people are excluded from the beauty conversation altogether.

In this episode, Storm shares how she went from DIY clay prototypes to launching a national collaboration with Celeste Barber’s beauty brand, BOOIE. We talk about co-designing with disabled users, her frustrations with investors who say “disability is too niche,” and why she believes accessible design should never feel like charity.

Connect with Storm:

Instagram: @bystorm.beauty

Website: https://bystormbeauty.com

Tiktok: @bystorm.beauty

Connect with Peta Hooke
Instagram: @petahooke
Website: www.icantstandpodcast.com
Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com

Episode Transcript:
www.icantstandpodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this short episode, Peta shares a personal reflection on 2025, a year defined more by endurance than spark. She talks about living through ongoing illness and injury, the role of work and conversation in keeping her grounded, and the relationships that carried her through a difficult year.

Peta also explains a brief pause to the podcast as she undergoes gallbladder surgery, and shares her hopes for 2026, choosing the word steady over spark.

Thank you for listening, for your patience, and for being part of this community. The podcast will return soon.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a short Christmas message to say thank you for listening to The I Can’t Stand Podcast this year. The show will be taking a brief break over the holidays and will return on Tuesday the sixth of January.

If you’d like to give the podcast a little Christmas present, a rating or review would mean so much. It helps new listeners find the show and supports the work that goes into each episode.

To rate and review:
• Open the podcast in Apple Podcasts
• Scroll down to the Ratings and Reviews section
• Tap the stars to leave a rating
• Tap “Write a Review” if you’d like to share a few words

Thank you again for your support. Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lucy Edwards is a broadcaster, journalist, and one of the most recognisable blind content creators in the world. In this episode, she opens up about losing her sight at 17, building a career online, and why she proudly says, “I love being blind now.”

We talk about the grief of going blind, how she found confidence through storytelling, and her latest venture: launching the accessible beauty brand Etia London. Lucy also shares her IVF journey and the decision to screen for the gene that caused her blindness—a deeply personal and nuanced choice.

This is a powerful conversation about disability, identity, and what it means to take control of your narrative.

Connect with Lucy Edwards

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lucyedwards

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucyedwardsofficial/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lucyedwardsofficial

Website: https://www.lucyedwards.com/about

Book: https://blindnotbroken.cmpgn.page/LGZ6f6

Makeup brand: https://etialondon.com

Connect with Peta Hooke
Instagram: @petahooke
Website: www.icantstandpodcast.com
Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com

Episode Transcript:
www.icantstandpodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Peta speaks with model, actor and advocate Amelia Tang about what life looks like when illness reshapes everything. Amelia shares their experience of becoming disabled as a teenager, the long periods they spent bedbound, and how community kept them connected when they could barely tolerate light or sound.

They talk about modelling with a feeding tube, navigating friendships through chronic illness, and the daily realities of fatigue management. Amelia also speaks about their work supporting disabled people in group homes through the Young People in Nursing Homes National Alliance, and why accessible housing is essential for independence.

A thoughtful and generous conversation about identity, energy, and rebuilding a life at a different pace.

Connect with Amelia

Book Amelia: https://www.zbdtalent.com

Tenant Voice project for NDIS participants living in SDA/SIL: https://ypinh.org.au/tenantvoice/

Kit’s fundraiser: https://ko-fi.com/mutualaidkit

Connect with Peta Hooke
Instagram: @petahooke
Website: www.icantstandpodcast.com
Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com

Episode Transcript:
www.icantstandpodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Roberts is often called the father of the independent living movement, but many people have never heard his story. This week, I’m joined by Professor Scot Danforth, author of An Independent Man, to explore Ed’s life, from contracting polio at fourteen and living in an iron lung, to becoming a key figure in disability rights.

We talk about the moments that shaped his activism, the power of the Rolling Quads, the curb cut revolution, and why Ed’s ideas on independence and attitudes still matter today.

If you want to understand where disability pride and modern disability culture began, this conversation is a meaningful place to start.

Connect with Scot
University website: https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/scot-danforth.aspx

Buy the book: www.booktopia.com.au/an-independent-man-scot-edward-danforth

Connect with Peta Hooke
Instagram: @petahooke
Website: www.icantstandpodcast.com
Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com

Episode Transcript:
www.icantstandpodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grace Spence Green was a medical student when a man jumped from a height in a shopping centre and landed on her, causing a spinal cord injury that left her paralysed from the chest down.

In this conversation, Grace speaks openly about the moment her life changed, the long road through hospital and rehabilitation, and what it was like to suddenly become the patient after training to care for others.

We talk about the ideas behind her book To Exist As I Am, including radical acceptance, the difference between the medical and social models of disability, and how she rebuilt a sense of identity after injury. Grace shares how her lived experience now shapes her work as a doctor, what helped her feel at home in her wheelchair, and why she challenges the tired cultural narratives of tragedy or inspiration.

Connect with Grace

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracesg/?hl=en

Buy her book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/to-exist-as-i-am/grace-spence-green/

Connect with Peta Hooke
Instagram: @petahooke
Website: www.icantstandpodcast.com
Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com

Episode Transcript:
www.icantstandpodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.