{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"What Makes a Human Human: Understanding That Everyone Belongs","description":"In this powerful episode of the Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast, Jed welcomes back Mary Keating, lawyer, poet, and author of Recalibrating Gravity, to celebrate Disability Pride Month and reflect on the legacy\u2014and limits\u2014of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Mary shares the story of the car accident at age 15 that left her a paraplegic and completely changed her life in a single moment. With warmth and candor, she recalls how her \u201ccan\u2011do\u201d family refused to sideline her, including her mom\u2019s memorable insistence that she still come downstairs and set the table\u2014an early lesson that she was expected to contribute, not retreat. Jed and Mary dig into the everyday realities of an inaccessible world: housing that can\u2019t be entered, events held up flights of stairs, and public systems designed as if disabled people don\u2019t exist. They highlight how many mainstream conveniences\u2014like curb cuts, captions, touchscreens, and voice control\u2014originated from accessibility innovations that benefit everyone. Mary reads two deeply moving poems from Recalibrating Gravity: \u201cHappily Ever After,\u201d which captures the loneliness and isolation of disability, and \u201cWhat Makes a Human Human,\u201d written after a dehumanizing moment in a Yale Law classroom. Both pieces illuminate how architecture, policy, and casual language can either erase or affirm someone\u2019s humanity. Throughout the conversation, Mary and Jed return to a hopeful challenge: we can all be \u201carchitects of change\u201d by noticing who\u2019s missing, speaking up, and insisting that disabled people are not afterthoughts but full participants in our communities and stories. ","author_name":"Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/sites.libsyn.com\/558800","html":"