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