Tiffany Yu on Disability Pride, Ableism, and Taking Anti-Ableist Action

On The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Christine interviews Tiffany Yu—Founder and CEO of Diversability and author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto—about disability identity, ableism, and practical inclusion. Yu shares a childhood car accident that caused permanent arm paralysis, temporary wheelchair use, and later a PTSD diagnosis, emphasizing that trauma care must address mental health as well as physical injuries. She discusses defining disability using the WHO’s interaction between health conditions and environmental barriers, reframing disability as “another way of being or doing,” and noting that naming disability can protect rights under the ADA. Yu defines ableism as devaluing people based on how their bodies or minds work, connects it to intersecting oppressions, and describes anti-ableism as action beyond passive “not ableist” behavior, including accessibility practices like captions and the curb cut effect. She closes with examples of readers applying the book’s ideas to make bookstores and book festivals more accessible.

00:00 Meet Tiffany Yu

00:58 Her Disability Story

02:06 Defining Disability

03:35 Reclaiming the Word

05:49 Advocacy Without Apology

09:02 What Ableism Means

10:46 Pity and Nuance

12:34 From Passive to Action

13:58 Accessibility Advantage

14:46 Final Takeaways

Menopause Basics and Hormone Therapy: A Conversation with Dr. Betyshia Belardo

Christine interviews Dr. Betyshia Belardo, a board-certified Obesity Medicine physician and Menopause Society Certified Practitioner and founder of CaliberMD, about menopause care for midlife women. Belardo defines menopause as the single day marking 12 consecutive months without a menstrual cycle, with perimenopause as the years leading up to it (often starting in the 40s and sometimes earlier in African American women) and postmenopause thereafter. They discuss how the Women’s Health Initiative contributed to fear around hormone therapy and how later analysis suggested benefits and lower risks when started within 10 years of the last period, versus increased risk when started later. Belardo emphasizes hormone therapy is individualized with contraindications (e.g., clot/stroke history, certain breast cancers), notes nuanced options like vaginal estrogen and non-hormonal treatments, encourages women to ask clinicians and seek specialists, and advocates for earlier, open conversations so women don’t feel they must suffer.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:00 Personal Wellness Origin Story

01:29 Menopause Defined Clearly

02:31 WHI Study and HRT Fear

05:10 Who Should Consider HRT

06:31 Contraindications and Vaginal Estrogen

07:08 Breast Cancer and Nonhormonal Options

08:07 Advocating for Yourself

10:27 Breaking the Menopause Taboo

11:19 Thriving Through the Transition

12:15 Part One Wrap Up

Physician Women Rising: Strategic Leadership, Visibility, and Sponsorship for Women in Medicine

Christine interviews Dr. Shannon Udovic Constant, a San Francisco pediatrician and immediate past president of the largest state medical association and only the fifth woman to hold the role in over 160 years, about advancing women physicians into leadership. Dr. Constant shares a childhood story from her daughter about “boy money,” illustrating how ambition and leadership are gendered, and explains how this shaped her drive to expand women’s representation in executive rooms. Dr. Constant describes launching Physician Women Rising as coaching and education, including a weekly Substack newsletter, to teach leadership skills she learned without a roadmap. Key themes include being strategic about career direction, making impact visible, stating ambitions, and building sponsorship (distinct from mentorship) through purposeful conversations. She discusses the narrower range of acceptable leadership behaviors for women and urges intentional positioning to improve healthcare decisions. Linkd to find Dr. Constant: at her website and on her substack.

00:00 Meet Dr Shannon

00:49 Boy Money Moment

02:58 Why Visibility Matters

04:03 Launching Women Rising

06:02 Three Leadership Keys

08:20 Sponsors Not Mentors

10:07 Her Path to President

13:03 Owning Ambition

14:53 Invisible Work Trap

15:51 Leading in a Narrow Box

19:09 Taking Credit Gracefully

19:55 Final Leadership Challenge