As many of the readers of this publication may know, I have had the honor and privilege of interviewing quite a few prestigious advocates and activists thus far. However, up until now, none have made me “fangirl” quite as much as when I received the assignment to interview the notoriously well-known advocate/activist Stephanie Woodward!
Woodward is the “powerhouse” CEO and founder of Disability EmpowHer Network, a national nonprofit created to empower girls and women with disabilities through mentorship, leadership development, and transformational learning experiences. When she is not mentoring the next generation, Woodward is a disability rights attorney, activist, and nationally recognized speaker, Woodward has dedicated her career to challenging barriers and creating spaces where disabled people are seen, valued, and included. Her work has helped shape conversations around accessibility, representation, employment, and leadership for disabled women and girls across the country.
Most recently, she has done this by creating a huge following on social media with the making of commentary videos discussing the societal barriers she faces in her everyday life. The videos mostly focus on what one can only refer to as the “lack of etiquette” society has when encountering someone from the disability community.
Regardless of all that she has already accomplished, the thing she is most proud of, is the tight-knit family she has built with her husband Ryan and their five kids! During our hour-long conversation, in between laughter and forming a friendship, we covered this and so much more! To learn more about this incredible person and how she started on her lifelong journey as an advocate read the interview below:
Could you please tell our readers what inspired you to become an activist for people with disabilities?
I remember, I was in the third grade, and my school had placed ramps for me to enter classrooms. This was going great until, one day, my music teacher made a comment that I shouldn’t use the ramp because it may be hazardous to my non-disabled peers. Even as a third grader this comment was puzzling to me and bordered on humorous due to its ridiculousness.
After school finished that day I went home eager to tell my Dad, who I thought would laugh about it with me. He, however, did not think it was funny and the very next day, he drove me to school where he demanded to speak to the principal.
At first, he was told that she was busy. That is, until he threatened to get the ADA involved. Which, instantaneously, cleared her schedule. After they met, he took me out of school for the day. This gave me the opportunity to ask him what the ADA was. He explained it to my third-grade mind as being a group of lawyers in wheelchairs who would get her in trouble. I decided then that I wanted to be an ADA —which we both know is not something you are but a law that was passed.
Do you remember the first form of advocacy that you participated in? How did it make you feel?
Well, after sticking it to my music teacher, I wanted to do more system change work. So, as a young adult, I began interning at my local chapter of the Center for Independent Living. This quickly turned into a paid position where I was put in charge of making sure that public transportation was accommodating to people with wheelchairs and/or those with seeing eye dogs. Which, at the time, was not the case. It has been many years, but I am still very passionate about this.
You are well known for your work with ADAPT, EmpowerHer, and now you have a huge following on social media where you post videos breaking down stereotypes. My question is: With all the work you have done, which do you feel the most passionate about? Is there anything you haven’t done that you would like to accomplish?
I don’t feel as if it is a menu where I have to pick and choose, I am passionate about everything that I do.
With ADAPT, I love being able to fight for my rights and say things in response to “Excuse me. You have to leave because your wheelchair is a fire hazard.” To which I humorously respond, “Trust me, if there’s a fire I will be getting out of here.”
(She then took a minute to point out a poster that hung behind her of a disability rights protest that occurred in San Francisco. The sign read “Asking nicely wasn’t enough!” She then expressed her true belief that the best way to get things done is to fight for them fiercely. Soon after, she switched gears and began talking about her work with EmpowerHer.)
For my work with EmpowerHer, I love working with women who have disabilities because many of them have been conditioned to believe that they are incapable of doing things independently before they even try. An example would be when I encourage them to do one of our activities during our camp sessions such as telling them to start a fire and they reply, “I can’t, I have a disability.” I humorously respond “Okay. Well, I guess you will freeze tonight.”
After breaking the ice, I take these moments of doubt that our participants may have to discuss what is the underlying cause of their thinking. Is there possibly some internalized ableism? This brings quite a bit of revelation and moments of clarity to our participants who then shift their thinking into one that makes them eager to try the activities.
With my social media posts where I talk about the inappropriate questions and comments that my husband and I receive about our life as parents, my hope is to really educate the masses that there are some things that you can’t say to people. I mean, you are entitled to your opinions but that isn’t going to stop us from being parents.
To answer the second part, I would like to work on ensuring that people with disabilities are not placed in nursing homes. I mean, I can’t think of one person with a disability that is like ‘I can’t wait to live in a nursing home and eat bad Tilapia and watch Judge Judy reruns.’ Seriously, it infuriates me that there is a waiver in place that ensures that we don’t end up in a nursing home. As if that is our only option, right? I believe, as adults with disabilities, we should have the right to choose where we would like to live.
Some may say that you are this generation’s Judith Heumann, who is best known for inspiring a generation with the quote “I would like to see fierce people with disabilities change the world!” What words of wisdom would you like to share?
Well, I am not very articulate, but I would hope to eventually see people with disabilities have equal opportunity in all spaces, not just those that are designed for us but I want to see decisionmakers that are living with a disability. Such as, senators and other changemakers in our society. I would encourage them to go out and speak up on different topics and make sure that they get involved in all areas of system change!
Finally, on a personal note, in addition to being a dedicated advocate you live a well-rounded life as a wife and mother. What do you do to unwind in your free time?
Well, I don’t think I am in a Stephanie-Time frame of mind. However, in the few moments when the kids are all asleep, I love just sitting and sipping coffee with my husband. I love playing all kinds of word games, like Scrabble and Wordle. I don’t play WORDLE online, I actually play it with my husband where he thinks of a word, and I have to guess the letters that are in the word.
I also love going to the movies with my kids. I just went to see The Mandalorian & Grogu with my oldest son.