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Eric Harris is joined by his old friend Shay Arigbede, filmmaker and former competitive sled hockey player, to talk two big recent cultural events -- the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games and the 98th Annual Academy Awards. The two reminisce about their time as teenagers trying to find a channel that broadcast the Paralympics and reflect on how far the presence of the games has come today. They also discuss the Oscars, looking into some of the biggest wins, coolest allies, and some thoughts on disability representation on screen. It’s a conversation that sits at the cross-section of athletics and art, with disability square at the center.

Links:

· 2026 Paralympic Winter Games

· 2026 Academy Awards

· Paralympic sled hockey team

As a grassroots production, we greatly value your support. Please subscribe, comment, rate, review, and share The Game Plan.

This time on The Game Plan, Eric interviews an old friend-- Emily Ladau, national disability rights activist, speaker, and author of the incredible Demystifying Disability, the practical guide that has rapidly grown to an essential tome of our movement. Emily reflects on her childhood experience guest-starring on Sesame Street, advocate origin stories alongside Eric in the AAPD internship program, and serves some breaking news from the publishing world(!)

For those just coming to understand disability, how it lives in our culture and societies, and how to embrace it throughout your life with kindness, you could not find a better starting place than Emily’s work.

Links:

· Demystifying Disability

· Sesame Street episodes

· American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)

· Article: Wheelchair? Hearing Aids? Yes. ‘Disabled’? No Way.

The Game Plan is a space to strategize, organize, and posterize for the future of the disability rights movement – subscribe, rate, review, and join us!

Welcome back to the Game Plan! In this episode, Eric is joined by community advocate, Sacramento City Councilmember, and Congressional Candidate Mai Vang. Mai describes her experience growing up as a first-generation daughter of refugees and one of 16 siblings as part of Sacramento's large and historic Hmong community. They discuss being a "lone warrior" in Sacramento politics, some of her fights at the city level, why she is running to primary CA-07's incumbent Democrat, and her sense of great urgency to drive new policies that center human care.

Links:

· History of the Hmong Community in Sacramento

· maiforus.com