Embodiment for the Rest of Us - Season 4, Episode 4: Imani Barbarin

Chavonne (she/her), Jenn (she/they), and Maya (she/her) interviewed Imani (she/her/hers) about her embodiment journey.

Imani Barbarin is a disability rights and inclusion activist and speaker who uses her voice and social media platforms to create conversations engaging the disability community. Born with cerebral palsy, Imani often writes and uses her platform to speak from the perspective of a disabled Black woman. In the last few years she has created over a dozen trending hashtags that allow disabled folk the opportunity to have their perspectives heard while forcing the world to take notice. #PatientsAreNotFaking, #ThingsDisabledPeopleKnow, #AbledsAreWeird and others each provide a window into disabled life while forming community. Imani is from the Philadelphia area and holds a Masters in Global Communications from the American University of Paris, her published works include those in Forbes, Rewire, Healthline, BitchMedia and more. She runs the blog CrutchesAndSpice.com and a podcast of the same name.

Content Warning: discussion of genocide, discussion of ableism privilege, discussion of diet culture, discussion of fatphobia, discussion of medicalized racism, discussion of racism, discussion of fatphobia in the career space, discussion of mental health, discussion of chronic medical issues, mentions of ableism, mentions of suicide, discussion of ageism

Trigger Warnings:

58:30: Imani discusses weight loss surgery and eating disorders

The captions for this episode can be found at https://embodimentfortherestofus.com/season-4/season-4-episode-4-imani-barbarin/#captions

A few highlights:

4:47: Imani shares her understanding of embodiment and her own embodiment journey

19:40: Imani discusses how the pandemic has affected her embodiment practices

47:22: Imani shares her understanding of “the rest of us” and how she is a part of that, as well as her privileges

59:33: Imani discusses her work with social media misinformation/disinformation and disability advocacy

1:14:11: Imanin shares how her embodiment around phobias and -isms

1:16:51: Imani discusses how listeners can make a difference based on this conversation

1:24:24: Imani shares where to be found and what’s next for her

Links from this episode:

Ableism

American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

Autism

Harriet Tubman Collective

Iron Lung

Movement for Black Lives

Multiple Models of Disability

PA Act 77

The Protest Psychosis

Runaway Slave Syndrome

Music: “Bees and Bumblebees (Abeilles et Bourdons​)​, Op. 562” by Eugène Dédé through the Creative Commons License

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Website: embodimentfortherestofus.com

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