Soft Landings: Disability History, Peer Support, and the Power of Interdependence with Heather McCain

In this episode of the History in 60 Companion Podcast, host John Loeppky is joined by Heather McCain, founder and executive director of Live, Educate, Transform Society (LETS) and a proud Crip Doula, for a wide-ranging conversation about disability justice, community care, and how disabled people keep each other alive through mutual aid. Building on the History in 60 TV episode Charter and Change, Heather unpacks what “Crip” means, why disability justice is often misused as a catch-all term, and how disability history gets erased when we flatten people’s identities or ignore the movements that shaped today’s rights. Together, John and Heather explore the strengths and limits of grassroots organizing, the role of cultural knowledge in welcoming newly disabled people into the community, and what it takes to practice sustainable advocacy without sacrificing your health. Watch the full episode on AMI+ Find the Video Podcast on YouTube GUEST BIO Heather McCain is the founder and Executive Director of Live, Educate, Transform Society (LETS) and a Crip Doula, a disability justice term for a disabled person who supports other disabled people navigating complex systems, building resources, and finding community. Based in British Columbia, Heather has worked in disability advocacy for two decades, including consulting with TransLink on accessibility and responding to systemic barriers in public transit. Heather’s work sits at the intersection of disability justice, collective care, and lived experience. Through LETS, they offer peer support groups, workshops, disability history and awareness training, and accessibility learning designed and delivered by disabled and/or neurodivergent facilitators, grounded in intersectionality and community-identified needs. SHOW NOTES The History in 60 Companion Podcast is the official companion to the television series History in 60 on AMI Television. While the series highlights key moments in Canada’s disability history, this podcast creates space to go deeper, connecting what we see on screen with the people shaping disability culture, community, and change today. In this episode, we explore how disabled Canadians fought to be included in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and how that struggle continues to shape disability justice today. Our guest is Heather McCain, founder and executive director of Live, Educate, Transform Society (LETS) and a proud Crip Doula. Heather describes Crip Doula work as disabled to disabled mentorship, skill sharing, and community support, helping people navigate access needs, systems, grief, and identity while building a life they can be proud of. Heather shares how their advocacy began with lived experience, years of being dismissed by medical professionals, the isolation of early disability, and the moment they realized power moved differently when they signed a letter as Executive Director. From writing to transit authorities, to building peer support groups like Chronically Queer, to developing workshops including disability history, Heather’s work is rooted in the needs of community and a commitment to intersectional access. Together, John and Heather explore what Crip can mean and why reclaiming language matters, and why disability justice must remain accountable to its roots, especially centering Black, Indigenous, racialized, and 2SLGBTQIA+ disabled communities who were historically excluded even within disability movements. They unpack how grassroots organizing and legal or top down advocacy feed each other, and why both approaches are necessary to create lasting structural change. The conversation also highlights the importance of disability history, including the stories that are too often erased or dismissed as distant past, and reflects on the divide and shared learning between people born disabled and those with acquired disabilities. Finally, they address sustainability in advocacy, why rest is not something disabled people must earn, and how community care and interdependence are essential in preventing isolation and burnout while building long term movements. Referenced in this Episode: Live, Educate, Transform Society (LETS) Chronically Queer TransLink Colour the Trails Woodlands (historical institution context) Arsenal Pulp Press Rest Is Resistance (Book) CONTACT DETAILS (As Shared in the Interview) Website:https://connectwithlets.org Email: [email protected] Instagram: @connectwithlets Facebook: @connectwithlets Newsletter: sign up via the form at the bottom of any page on the LETS website CREDITS John Loeppky, Host Heather McCain, Guest Brent Kawchuk, Co-Producer Cali James, Metamorphosis Media Group, Co-Producer & Narrator Podcast Studio Camera: Daylen Hartz & Kody Ng Kade Stevens, KS Media, Editor If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the History in 60 Companion Podcast, leave a rating or review, and share it with someone who might appreciate the conversation. Your support helps more people discover these stories and the history behind them. 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