My guest for this episode is playwright, screenwriter, director and doctor Sharmini Kumar, and we talk a little about being settlers in Australia, and her fraught relationship with the Western literary canon. Sharmini is the founder of AustenCon, an annual one-day convention for lovers of Jane Austen, which is actually happening tomorrow if you're listening to this as it comes out! This year's AustenCon is happening on the 6 November 2021, in person at the Abbotsford Convent here in Melbourne as well as online. Link in the show notes. And I will be appearing on the 3.30pm panel 'Non-canonical pairings' where we basically get to ship Jane Austen characters with anyone we want. The panel will be streamed online and available for 48 hours after streaming! Sharmini Kumar is a friend of mine and we bonded over a mutual love of nerdy things. We nerd out a lot, especially over literature, and talk about what sparked her interest in Jane Austen and her passion for helping people of colour see themselves represented in the Western canon. Sharmini's day job is working as a GP, and I find it particularly interesting to hear from a doctor who lives with chronic health conditions. AustenCon 2021 information, tickets and schedule: https://www.24carrotproductions.com/austen-con You can find Sharmini here: https://twitter.com/sharminime Just A Spoonful Live is coming! 3rd December 2021. More info here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/just-a-spoonful-podcast-live-tickets-194918365077?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb Thank you to my Patreon supporters who make my work and rent payments possible! You can subscribe to find bonus content and special offers here https://www.patreon.com/BlytheByName Podcast artwork by Melbourne-based artist Erin Michelle Just A Spoonful's theme music is 'Sleepless' by Anna O This podcast is created on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri People and I extend my respect to elders past and present.

Just A Spoonful's 2021 season continues with best-selling author, Aurealis Award winner, journalist, screenwriter and assistant film curator at the ACMI museum of screen culture: Maria Lewis! Maria is a stroke survivor (this year is actually her 10 year 'stroke-iversary') who thought they only happened to older people until she found herself in Emergency in her early 20s. We talk about the lifelong after-effects of stroke and how it changed the way her brain works, something she still navigates in her career. We also talk about Mariah Carey fandom and how it feels for Maria (no H) to see her own fans tattoo her own creations onto their bodies. Maria Lewis's seventh novel in the Supernatural Sisters series - The Rose Daughter - came out five months after we recorded this conversation so we talk about her writing that, her previous novels, and why she feels fortunate to be able to wrap up the series on her own terms. Also how good is THERAPY. SBS The Feed's short documentary on young stroke survivors: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/young-stroke-survivors-in-australia-the-face-you-wouldn-t-expect Find Maria Lewis here: http://marialewis.com.au https://twitter.com/moviemazz https://instagram.com/maria___lewis Thank you to my Patreon supporters who make my work and rent payments possible! You can subscribe to find bonus content here https://www.patreon.com/BlytheByName Podcast artwork by Melbourne-based artist Erin Michelle Just A Spoonful's theme music is 'Sleepless' by Anna O This podcast is created on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri People and I extend my respect to elders past and present.

Just A Spoonful is kicking off a new 2021 season with Brisbane-based musician and broadcaster Scott Mercer, a JASP fan turned JASP guest. Scott was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in his late twenties, and obviously his very first thought was 'Sweet, now I'm eligible to be on Kaitlyn's podcast' (citation needed). The frontman of Slumlawwd talks about how playing music played a part in his diagnosis, and how he's trying to fit as many gigs in as he can before it gets too hard to hold a guitar. We also talk about our experiences presenting at Brisbane's anarchic community radio station 4ZZZ, Scott's goal to interview Corinne Grant, and why Melbourne is like Valhalla (it's not a compliment). We sat down to record this chat in June 2018, making this possibly the longest I've ever taken to upload an interview to this podcast. Look, it's been a weird few years. This is actually a crossover episode with Scott's podcast Gimme Empathy (http://gimmeempathy.libsyn.com/). While Scott was touring in Melbourne in 2018 we sat down and recorded two conversations back-to-back interviewing each other. You can hear me on episode 39 of Gimme Empathy, 'An Element Of Unknowableness', which Scott uploaded two months after we recorded making me look terrible that I'm uploading this three years later. I've been on Gimme Empathy once before, too – episode 13, 'The Void Screams Back'. If you can't get enough of us going on tangents. Scott's band Slumlawwd (http://slumlawwd.bandcamp.com/) recently released a single 'Withdrawn Failure' off their upcoming album Fuckburg, which comes out in October 2021. Slumlawwd is signed with music label Off The List Records, a new Australian label created with the aim to make the music industry more accessible to disabled acts and disabled audiences. Had to mention Off The List because that's a pretty rad (and much needed) aim. You can also hear Scott presenting 4ZZZ show Live Delay (http://livedelay.com/), broadcasting live gigs (something we vaguely recall down here in locked down Melbourne). I'll be appearing at the National Young Writers' Festival next week. This year the whole festival in digital so you can access it online from anywhere, and as always the festival is free. On the first night of the festival, Thursday night 30th Sept, I get to be an Agony Aunt, and on Saturday night 2nd Oct I'll be doing a reading of fan fiction. There are heaps of other great young writers involved, so I recommend checking it out. http://youngwritersfestival.org/artists/kaitlyn-blythe/ If you'd like to support me to keep creating this podcast and doing other things like paying rent and buying food, consider supporting my Patreon! http://patreon.com/BlytheByName Podcast artwork by Melbourne-based artist Erin Michelle Just A Spoonful's theme music is 'Sleepless' by Anna O This podcast is created on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri People and I extend my respect to elders past and present.

Robyn Lambird doesn't need your prayers, thanks! At the time of this interview, already an accomplished wheelchair athlete, public figure and the first visibly disabled adult to appear in a nationwide ad campaign in Australia, the 19-year-old is doing just fine. We chat about the amusing (and annoying) reactions people have to you when you're visibly disabled, going to stadium concerts in a wheelchair, and how things seem to be improving for people with disabilities in our lifetimes. Robyn was born with cerebral palsy and explains where the nickname "T-Rex" comes from. This is the first episode of the new season, after JASP's hiatus. This interview is one from the vault, from before I became too overwhelmed to keep doing this podcast, and I'm so glad I get to share it with you. Our chat was recorded in mid-2016, if you can even recall such a time. You can find Robyn on Instagram (@robynlambird) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/ATREXLIFE). Read more of Robyn's story in this NDIS feature: https://www.ndis.gov.au/robynstory Robyn mentions Starting With Julius, a Perth-based not-for-profit organisation that works to improve media representation for people with disability. Find out more about them here: http://www.startingwithjulius.org.au/ Get Krack!n airs Wednesdays at 9pm on ABC (Australia) and episodes are available on iview. My Patreon members are the wind beneath my wings. If you would like to join my Patreon and access special exclusive content, you can do so for as little as USD$1/month. I'd like to say a massive thanks to Rudi Bremer for donating her time and skills to help me with editing this episode. This podcast was produced on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, to whom I pay my respects as the traditional owners of this land. --- Released 12 February 2019 If you would like to support this podcast, check out patreon.com/blythebyname

The binary of healthy/sick is "lazy thinking", says tech innovation writer and researcher Bhavani Esapathi. The RSA Fellow and HuffPo blogger is passionate about shifting the narrative around chronic illness from "despite" to "because of". Without her severe Crohns and arthritis/spondylitis conditions, she would not be doing the exciting work she does today. Perhaps she wouldn't have travelled to Japan to accept an innovation award. Bhavani focuses on what she can do because of her chronic lifestyle. We talk about her storytelling platform 'Chronically Driven', an arm of the Invisible Labs network that she founded. For the project, Bhavani seeks out stories from people with 'invisible' illnesses, and asks them to take an unusual view of their conditions. She explains to me why being from India actually set back her diagnosis of Crohn's when she was seeing doctors in London (her current home). It is a fascinating chat and I came away uplifted, yet with many of my assumptions about chronic illness challenged. Bhavani's HuffPo blog post on 'Going Beyond The Extraordinary': http://huff.to/2o03mYe The Invisible Labs: http://theinvisiblelabs.com Bhavani on Twitter: @bhaesa The music you hear in this episode: 'Sleepless' by Anna O 'London Is Calling' by penston 'Silver Magic Ships' by Marksman Lloyd --- Note from September 2018: I have had to re-upload this episode, which was originally released on 27 March 2017. If you would like to support this podcast, check out patreon.com/blythebyname

“You're not like, you know, a REGULAR disability.” Carly Findlay fields all kinds of ridiculous comments about her appearance and her disability, ranging from the insensitive to the abusive. Some of them have taken her all the way to the Human Rights Commission. “It was a bit weird to be the top news story for a couple of days … It wasn't a good experience.” Carly lives with Ichthyosis – a rare, severe skin condition – and is an appearance activist. She is also a writer whose work has been published by the Guardian, Daily Life, ABC, Mamamia and Frankie magazine. On her award-winning blog Tune Into Radio Carly, she writes honestly about life with Ichthyosis, disability, and visible difference. Carly talks to me about her work, but also we giggle a lot about pop music from the late 90s. If 2016 has gotten you down, Carly Findlay is a delightful guest to spend an hour in conversation with. [Note from September 2018: I've had to re-upload this episode, and since its first release two years ago Carly has only gone on to do more and more amazing things. Check out her website http://carlyfindlay.com.au] Links from this episode: Carly's blog: http://carlyfindlay.blogspot.com.au [Now moved to http://carlyfindlay.com.au] Carly's Facebook page: http://fb.com/Tune.Into.Radio.Carly/ Jill Starks' SMH profile on Carly Findlay and other Australian disability activists (and Carly's DRESS): http://www.smh.com.au/national/disability-advocates-demand-an-end-to-slacktivism-and-inspiration-porn-20160109-gm2dw9.html 'Living the unexpected. Marriage (and maybe babies)': http://carlyfindlay.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/living-unexpected-marriage-and-maybe.html Carly's protest of Me Before You - 'Having a disability is not a tragedy' (SBS): http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/culture/article/2016/06/17/having-disability-not-tragedy 'Carly Findlay suffers skin condition, wins internet after copping abuse on internet site Reddit': http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/carly-findlay-suffers-skin-condition-wins-internet-after-copping-abuse-on-internet-site-reddit/story-fnjwnhzf-1226787312639 'Disability activist and blogger Carly Findlay combats pity, sensationalism with her own story': http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-03/disability-blogger-takes-control-of-her-story/5126834 Savage Garden bot: http://twitter.com/affirmation_sg The music you heard in this episode: 'Sleepless' by Anna O 'Savage Garden – Break Me Shake Me (ChristmatiK Remix)' by ChrismatiK 'Silver Magic Ships' by Marksman Lloyd Podcast artwork by Brisbane artist Erin Michelle --- Released 9 September 2018 If you would like to support this podcast, check out patreon.com/blythebyname

"My first response was really, 'This is some kind of psychotic break, I'm having a delusion right now that my dream publisher wants to offer me a book deal.' I felt like that for quite a few weeks, actually." But it was not a delusion. Anna Spargo-Ryan's debut novel The Paper House was released today by Picador Australia, and it has already gone into reprint. Back in March this year, Anna sat down for a chat with me over Skype (as neither of us leaves the house much), and talked to me about chocolate, realising your goals, and living with "the most unpleasant cat I've probably ever had." The Paper House is about a woman's relationship with her mother who has bipolar disorder, and its author has plenty of lived experience with mental illnesses. Anna lives with obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, severe anxiety, depression, and elements of psychosis in the mix. She tells me how "oversharing" on the internet helps her process her experiences and identity issues. We also talk a LOT about chocolate. Links to things we discussed in this episode: http://ask.fm/ https://twitter.com/emergencynorman http://blog.annaspargoryan.com/book-the-paper-house/ BuzzFeed article about Anna's selfies http://bzfd.it/1X9Ze3a http://seizureonline.com/head-first/ Sidebar: Today is the final day of ME Awareness Month, so if you haven't already listened to the previous episode, a special short audio documentary on the state of myalgic encephalomyelitis in Australia, why not take 20 minutes out sometime today to catch up. This podcast is made possible by the support of my wonderful Patreon patrons. I'd especially like to thank Chris Woods, Ell Ackerman, Katie Rowney, Tegan, kristen bushnell, Alan Vaarwerk, Laura Elvery, Sophie Benjamin, Lauren Piko, Jim Reynolds, Talia F E, David Ryding, Jessica Alice, Heidi, James Colley and Lefa Singleton Norton. If you would like to become a patron of the podcast and sling me a couple bucks every month to keep this thang going, go to http://patreon.com/jaspodcast and find out what rewards you can get! The songs you hear in this episode are (in order of appearance): 'Sleepless' by Anna O 'Part of That* World' sung by Jodi Benson on The Little Mermaid 'Silver Magic Ships' by Marksman Lloyd If you're on iTunes, please subscribe to Just A Spoonful and rate! Review! Gimme dem stars! *I know Disney named the song 'Part of Your World' but she says THAT, THAT WORLD. GODDAMMIT. --- Released 31 May 2016 If you would like to support this podcast, check out patreon.com/blythebyname

May 12th is the International Day of Awareness for ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome), a gravely misunderstood neurological disease. Up to 598,000 Australians live with ME/CFS, yet there is very little research funding or specialist healthcare available for them. How is such a devastating disease so overlooked? Kaitlyn Plyley investigates in this special episode of Just A Spoonful, 'May The 12th Be With You'. For anyone who ever asked, "Where's the Serial about why I'm still sick?" First published on 12 May 2016. Become a patron of Kaitlyn's: http://patreon.com/blythebyname Educate yourself further about ME/CFS in Australia: http://emerge.org.au http://meaustralia.net

Just A Spoonful's first international guest! Jill Pantozzi is a US-based pop culture journalist and former Editor-In-Chief of The Mary Sue, known online by her moniker The Nerdy Bird. Jill talks to me ahead of her appearance at Contact2016 in Brisbane, where she is the International Fan Guest of Honour. We talk Batman V Superman, depictions of disability in the Marvel and DC universes, and what it means to have a disabled character in comics where anything - including magical cures and superpowers - is possible. Jill is a Goodwill Ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and tells me about the role the Association has played in her life since she was diagnosed with MD at the age of two. If you like Just A Spoonful, consider becoming a patron! http://patreon.com/jaspodcast Podcast artwork by Erin Michelle Art --- Released 24 March 2016 If you would like to support this podcast, check out patreon.com/blythebyname

"It was a weird superpower." This is how Leah Musch describes obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) to me, but only in certain contexts. It helped her retain an astounding amount of detail as the owner of The Happy Cabin clothing store in Brisbane. It also led indirectly to serious injury. While recuperating from her injury, Leah had an epiphany that would change her relationship to fashion. She sold The Happy Cabin, and then everything changed. The host of web series The Unmaterial Girl talks to me about slow fashion, OCD guilt, and learning sustainable business methods in Brazil's 'favelas'. Portrait of Leah Musch by Erin Michelle for Just A Spoonful. --- Released 28 February 2016 If you would like to support this podcast, check out patreon.com/blythebyname

"If you think we're brave, ask yourself why we have to be brave." My guest this episode is Miranda Sparks - comedian, radio personality, transgender advocate, and author of the superhero web serial Shimmerverse. Miranda talks to me about growing up as a tomboy trans girl, why "show, don't tell" is problematic for a writer with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and accessibility in highbrow literature. We also talk about comic book movies, how to avoid ableist slang, and Miranda's surprising revelation of how she would handle a zombie apocalypse. Portrait of Miranda Sparks by Erin Michelle for Just A Spoonful. --- Released 24 December 2015 If you would like to support this podcast, check out patreon.com/blythebyname