From Protest to EmpowHer: Stephanie Woodward on Mentorship, Power, and Disability Justice

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/s_hsDxHf4gQ Hosts Keith and Jodi interview Stephanie Woodward, CEO of Disability EmpowHer Network, an organization run by and for disabled girls and women to build leadership skills and confidence. Stephanie consults businesses on inclusion and shares disability-parenting misconceptions through social media while raising six kids, including one-year-old triplets. Woodward discusses disability rights protest as part of an advocacy cycle—"asking did not work"—and explains founding Disability EmpowHer Network after lacking disabled women role models and seeing barriers in education, employment, and leadership, emphasizing mentorship, community, and broader definitions of leadership (including self-advocacy in medical settings). In the Deep Cut, the hosts discuss CODA's portrayal of a Deaf family, Ruby's heavy burden of interpreting, access as a community responsibility, and the film's strengths and complications in centering a hearing protagonist. Disability EmpowHER Network: https://www.disabilityempowhernetwork.org/ Instagram: @disabilityempowhernetwork and @wctriplets TikTok: @disability_empowher and @wctriplets LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/disability-empowher-network