Shows
My Words, My Book16 - Cathy Reay - disabled writer, journalist and mum of twoCathy shares how her work as a journalist led her into writing children's books and reflects on how many authors do not come from a traditional creative writing background. She also talks about her friendship group, many of whom are neurodivergent, and how Disabled and Proud (or at least kinda sorta okay with it…) covers themes including starting secondary school and puberty. Cathy highlights the importance of amplifying the voices of disabled children and how indeed this is crucial for their sense of belonging. Cathy Reay is a disabled writer and journalist, and mum of two (plus a v...
2025-06-2239 min
How Not to Screw Up Your KidsBucket Emptying: Empowering Children with DisabilitiesWhat does being the best really mean?What does ‘fitting in’ look like?Parents and children living with physical disabilities live with a unique set of challenges. They often find themselves judged or ridiculed, and this can have a big impact on our kids.On this week’s bucket emptying, I welcome back Cathy Reay, a disabled writer and journalist, and mum of two (plus a very cheeky cat!). She also works in educational publishing. How To Be Disabled and Proud (or at least kinda sorta okay with it...) is her first...
2025-05-0512 min
How Not to Screw Up Your KidsBucket Emptying: How Do We Have Conversations About Disability?“Disability is not an us and them conversation, and it’s not a pity conversation. It’s about teaching kids compassion and an openness to collaboration”These are the words of today’s guest Cathy Reay, a disabled writer and journalist, and mum of two (plus a very cheeky cat!). She also works in educational publishing. How To Be Disabled and Proud (or at least kinda sorta okay with it...) is her first children’s book, and on this week’s bucket emptying episode we are discussing how to have conversations with children about disability.Spoiler...
2025-04-1414 min
Step Back Into Audiobooks — A Fresh Bundle For Every Day.How to Be Disabled and Proud (Written by Cathy Reay)Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/2/audible/105109 to listen full audiobooks.
Title: How to Be Disabled and Proud
Author: Cathy Reay
Narrator: Cathy Reay
Format: mp3
Length: 4 hrs and 3 mins
Release date: 03-27-25
Ratings: Not rated yet
Genres: School & Education
Publisher's Summary:
This book will guide disabled listeners through navigating the move from primary to secondary school, voicing their accessibility needs, finding disabled community and gaining the confidence to stand up for their rights, and for others too. Cathy examines the challenges faced by disabled children, touching gently on issues...
2025-03-274h 03
Wiser Than Yesterday: Educational Book Reviews and SummariesNo Offence, But... by Gina MartinHow to have difficult conversations, for meaningful change.We break down Gina Martin's book addressing how to navigate some of the worst conversation-stoppers and poor thinking in our culture today.It also features chapters from other widely recognized speakers on the topics of equality and diversity.Labeled as "An empowering guide to navigating difficult conversations from climate naysayers to the #notallmen brigade, featuring chapters from brilliant writers and activists like Cathy Reay, Ben Hurst, Salma El-Wardany, and many others."Gina Martin is a gender equality activist, speaker, a...
2024-03-0644 min
A Seat At The TableA Seat At The Table with Cathy ReayWelcome to A Seat At The Table with Spare Ribs Club!In this podcast series, creator of Spare Ribs Club Alex Holker talks to guests about their dream feminist dinner party. From their 3 feminist guests, the 3 tunes that will be on repeat all evening, and the 3 courses being served, this podcast brings together conversations around feminism, music and food.In this episode, Alex talks to Cathy Reay. Cathy is a writer covering disability politics and culture. She writes regularly for The Guardian and has also written for Glamour, Radio Times and The Independent...
2023-10-2033 min
Start The Full Audiobook That Keeps Busy Professionals Hooked.'No Offence, But...': How to have difficult conversations for meaningful change by Gina MartinPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/646643to listen full audiobooks.
Title: 'No Offence, But...': How to have difficult conversations for meaningful change
Author: Gina Martin
Narrator: Daze Aghaji, Charlie Craggs, Mariam Kemple-Hardy, Azadeh Hosseini, Cathy Reay, Aja Barber, Gina Martin, Koa Beck, Salma El-Wardany, Ben Hurst
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 8 hours 57 minutes
Release date: July 27, 2023
Genres: Social Science
Publisher's Summary:
Brought to you by Penguin. 'In my work as a gender equality activist, the question I most get asked is, 'how do you respond to...?', followed by one of those phrases that leave us feeling frustrated or tongue-tied...
2023-07-278h 57
Ignite A Transformative Full Audiobook On Your Commute.No Offence, But... by Gina MartinPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/2/audible/63156to listen full audiobooks.
Title: No Offence, But...
Author: Gina Martin
Narrator: Gina Martin, Aja Barber, Cathy Reay, Salma El-Wardany, Azadeh Hosseini, Mariam Kemple-Hardy, Ben Hurst, Charlie Craggs, Koa Beck, Daze Aghaji
Format: mp3
Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
Release date: 07-27-23
Ratings: Not rated yet
Genres: Sociology of Sports
Publisher's Summary:
In our increasingly polarised society, having productive discussions about social justice issues has never been more challenging, or more crucial. From the persistent ('not all men,' 'I don't see colour') to the insidious ('to play devil's advocate...', 'climate change is...
2023-07-278h 57
Not Another Mummy PodcastCathy Reay: The highs and Lows of parenting with a disabilityI'm joined on this episode by someone I've wanted to have on as a guest for ages - writer and editor Cathy Reay. Born with dwarfism, Cathy is a disability consultant and writes about her experiences as a disabled, single mum.Cathy talks to me today about her experiences of pregnancy, birth, new motherhood and single motherhood. She reflects on her own childhood with non-disabled parents and talks about the experiences of her daughters - both born with the same type of dwarfism; achondroplasia.Cathy has contributed to We've Got This, a collection...
2023-04-0636 min
Open To CriticismFilm's inability to do Disability with Cathy ReayWhilst the push for better representation for women and people of colour has become more mainstream, the disabled community are yet to be included to the same degree. This matters hugely when it comes to cinema because of its long-standing problematic history when representing disability. From failing to cast disabled actors, to entrenched tropes where disability denotes evil or societal outsiders to be avoided, we've been drip-fed many taken-for-granted representations that need significant revision. After reading journalist and author Cathy Reay's recent review of the film Champions, which features a supporting cast of learning disabled actors, I was keen to...
2023-03-3132 min
From Gay to ZeDisability, Polyamory and Parenting - Cathy ReayQueer, polyamorous and disabled writer, activist and solo parent, Cathy Reay joins Lotte and Stu. They discuss how Cathy juggles her family and relationships, and how polyamory works for her. Cathy talks about the highs and lows of being a disabled parent, including how uncomfortable she can feel on the school run. Stu and Lotte also ask Cathy for practical advice on how to nurture kids' curiosity in disabled people, and tackling shame and prejudice for disabled people.
2023-03-2339 min
Dirty Mother Pukka with Anna WhitehouseCathy Reay on ableism, raising her voice and polyamoryIn this episode we're joined by the writer and journalist Cathy Reay. She shares how she's navigating the world of motherhood, the challenges of building a platform as a person with a disability, experiences of ableism and what led her to try polyamory after a decade-long monogamous marriage.
Original music by Matt J Brown at WeAreOK.com.
2022-04-2832 min
The Disabled Debrief With Conscious Being MagazineS1 EP 6: An Episode Special With Cathy ReayLet’s talk about disability and influencers! As a follow up episode to last week‘s instalment, we want to delve more into the world of being a disabled content creator. Cathy Reay is today’s guess; Cathy is a disabled, queer, polyamorous writer and speaker. You may well have seen her on Instagram; she covers topics such as disability justice, sex and dating, single motherhood and skincare. In today’s episode we talk about the topic of activism and the cost of emotional labour that comes with it, why journalism is an industry lacking in diversity and the accessib...
2022-02-2819 minThe Disabled Debrief With Conscious Being MagazineS1 EP 5: Disability & Content Creation: A Roundtable DiscussionIf you use social media, you may be aware of a sudden influx of disabled content creators - and it seems that this has come about almost due to the ongoing pandemic situation. With this in mind, we asked a group of content creators to discuss issues such as payment (and the influencer payment gap!), creativity, managing your support needs, the sometimes controversial topic of being and remaining authentic online, and more. Our guests this week are: (usernames/screen names used first!)
Disabled Eliza: Eliza is a disabled, LGBTQ+ content creator from London. They can be found on...
2022-02-2131 min
A Life Less Ordinary with Sophie ElwesCathy Reay - Empowering her kids to find their own way, self acceptance and choosing the spaces to exist inCathy Reay is a writer, editor, disability consultant and influencer. She is also a single mother of two and her Instagram account provides a great insight into life as a mum with dwarfism, disability justice, sex and dating, as well as some great skincare tips.Cathy tells me about what it was like for her growing up in north Norfolk and how moving to London helped her find out who she was. We talk about celebrating our weirdness. She talks about her experiences of becoming a mother, about medical ableism and how she did not f...
2022-01-311h 04
Creativity is...Cathy Reay: An Ode to Access, Social Media and SkincareToday Michaela talks to Cathy Reay (@cathyreaywrites), a journalist and online influencer who advocates for disability rights and representation. Cathy is one of our collaborators for the 'We are Culture' programme of The January Challenge 2022. They discuss why we need to re-think the wonderful things that help us towards better access and how self care can help you to live your truth as fully as possible.
You can find Cathy's brilliant challenge here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYbCg3GsjGg/
Would you like to be part of the podcast? To celebrate the end of The...
2022-01-2835 min
Polyamory UncensoredEpisode 87: The Intersection of Disability, Queerness, and Polyamory with CathyWelcome to Episode 87 of Polyamory Uncensored, where we chat with Cathy Reay about disability, dating, and how making spaces more accessible doesn't just help those with extra needs, it helps everyone.
You can find out more about Cathy on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathyreaywrites.
Stay tuned as we delve into the good, the bad, the ugly, and the just plain complicated truths about our poly lives. If you would like to support the podcast with a one-time contribution, we have set up a PayPal link to make it super easy! Please show your...
2022-01-171h 05
Happiful: Finding What Works81. Bonus Track - Self Love with Happiful and The Body ShopEarlier this summer, Happiful and our partners at The Body Shop held an evening of self love, as part of their ongoing Self Love Uprising campaign. The following is a recording of this great event, chaired by Happiful’s Kat Nicholls who was joined by model, presenter and mental health activist Shareefa J, journalist, editor and skincare influencer Cathy Reay and life coach and therapist Rebecca Kimberley.
The panel discusses life post pandemic, managing social media comparison, rejection and the small things they do every day to keep self love on the agenda.
We hope you...
2021-08-1121 min
The Bosom PodcastEp10. Cathy Reay: Questioning heroes and yourselfToday I am talking to the fantastic Cathy Reay, aka @thatsinglemum. Influencer, editor, writer and skincare expert, we spoke about feeling seen, confronting yourself and your opinions and fancying drummers. Cathy is great, and I would hugely recommend checking out what she has to say about motherhood, disability, skincare and her lovely new cat (as well as many many many other things)If you enjoyed, please leave a review! Thank you so much to Ally and Helena Shilson for their music, and to Sophie Kamlish for the bloody lovely artwork!!...
2021-07-0437 min
All The Small ThingsCathy Reay on Challenging Perceptions of AccessibilityCathy Reay (she/her) is a writer, editor and disability consultant. She covers disability rights and representation, with a particular interest in the beauty and film industries. She is also a single mother of two and speaks about her life and her experiences on her instagram @ThatSingleMum. There is so much in this conversation. We hear about Cathy's childhood, her advice for her teenage self, we discuss her experience of motherhood, both online and offline. We also talk about what a better future for disabled people would like from a political standpoint, in the media and c...
2021-06-2257 min
From HereAll the Books We Wished We ReadDelia and Dawn talk about books! Delia and Dawn chat about some of the books they read this summer, and some of the books they wished they read.Here are the books mentioned in the episode!!Bookshop on the Corner (Jenny Colgan)Lumberjanes (Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn A. Allen and Noelle Stevenson)Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations (Mira Jacob)Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix (Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds)Party of Two (Jasmine Guillory)Minor Feelings (Cathy Park Hong)Loveboat, Taipei (Abigail Hing Wen)Queenie (Candice Carty-Williams)Don't Ask Me Where I...
2020-09-2237 min