One special edition. One big question: what would it take for people with disabilities to build careers instead of settling for the first job that comes along?

Allison sits down with Murray to talk about Rise, Evolve, Thrive, the new vocational rehabilitation methodology Amerability is bringing to state agencies. We talk about the gap between what people believe they have learned and what they can actually do. We also talk about why attending one workshop does not mean someone has mastered a skill, and why individual assessment matters when counselors may only get half an hour with each person on their caseload.

The conversation gets personal, too. Allison was diagnosed with Stargardt's at 14, and she wishes she had been given a wider toolkit, including braille, long before law school. Murray describes how his vision has changed across his life, and he explains why the conversation needs to start at 12, not 17. We get into order of selection, IEP and 504 planning, money management, and an unemployment rate of around 70 percent in the blindness and low vision community.

Show up. Be curious. An interview is a conversation that goes both ways, and every "no" is practice for the right "yes." We also take on one of the questions people ask most often: should you disclose your disability to an employer? Allison's three dogs, who are firmly anti-ableism, add their own commentary along the way.

Don't let anyone tell you what you can't do because of your disability. Low expectations, late starts, and systems that were never built to talk to each other have limited too many people for too long. This episode is about opening the door to careers, passions, and futures well beyond the options people are usually handed.

Share your own vocational rehabilitation experience, and tell us what you want to hear next.

Knowledge is power.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:
Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

Music Credit: @Beacon Hill

Disability advocacy is serious work. But if we never step away and find our fun, we risk burnout, compassion numbness, and leaving our nervous systems with no opportunity to reset.

In this full-length episode of Shut the F Up: Disability Power Podcast, Murray and I talk about why joy, sports, community, and fun are essential parts of sustaining disability advocacy.

We get into fantasy sports leagues from the perspectives of blind people and people with other disabilities. We also discuss the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams playing in Australia, the teams’ very different travel strategies, and the reactions buy some Americans and Australians related to the pregame land acknowledgment.

We also take time to acknowledge September 19, 2023, when Azerbaijan launched its final attack on the ethnic Armenian population of Artsakh following months of blockade. During the blockade, at least 9,000 people with disabilities were among those living without reliable access to essential supplies, medical care, and support. My personal relationships with Armenian friends, including people close to me from Artsakh, and my years of disability rights work in Armenia make this an important moment to recognize.

We also celebrate Murray’s birthday, laugh about our fantasy sports teams, and clear up what I actually said about Ed Sheeran, Macklemore, and the latest conversation surrounding them.

Heavy subjects and lighter moments can exist in the same episode. Disability touches every part of society, and advocacy must be sustainable. Sometimes finding your fun is not stepping away from the work. It is what allows you to keep doing it.

Listen to the full episode of Shut the F Up: Disability Power Podcast, and stay tuned for our separate special-edition episode about Murray’s work with AMERABILITY and vocational rehabilitation.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:
Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

Music Credit: @Beacon Hill

States are restricting smartphones, smartwatches, smart glasses and other electronic devices in schools, but those policies do not automatically eliminate a disabled student’s access rights.

We discuss what families and students should know about school device bans, IEPs, Section 504, accommodations and disability-related technology. Allison also breaks down why parents should ask questions and understand their child’s individual access needs before assuming a statewide or schoolwide ban ends the conversation.

This special edition is about making sure families and students know that a blanket policy does not automatically erase disability-related access needs.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:
Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

Music Credit: @Beacon Hill

In Episode 4 of Shut the F Up, Murray Elbourn and Alison DiFranco are back, and the fight for disability rights did not wait for them. Six states have dropped out of the challenge to Section 504 since January, and it took people calling, emailing, and talking to their neighbors. For anyone muttering that none of this works, Murray has a story from Louisiana. They dig into why Alaska is one of the last three holdouts, a history of Alaskans shipped out of state, many never seen again, and an audit rolling through every state that few outside Murray's industry know about. For listeners in Australia and the UK, your disability does not stop at a border, and neither does this fight.

From there it becomes a story about what the fight actually looks like. Advocacy is different for everyone, whether that is a protest, an email, or a video that draws the hate comments Alison has learned to laugh at. It means knowing your rights, the whole point of the Disability Power Arena. It means finding your fun before burnout finds you. And it means a plan to vote in November, from someone who has worked where blind people could not vote and will never tell you who to vote for. Expect a phone number she wants flooded, a small-town election decided by seven votes, a bear trap ballot question she could not read, and the politest possible way to tell ableism to shut the F up. It is loud, it is hopeful, and it lands on the line every advocate knows by heart: nothing about us without us.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:
Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

In Episode 3 of Shut the F Up, Murray Elbourn and Allison Defranco flip the show's entire premise on its head. July is Disability Pride Month, and this time they want the disability community to speak the F up. The hour swings from World Cup chaos and smuggled ranch dressing to powerchair football, blind tennis, and the technology changing how blind fans experience live sport. Fresh from the National Federation of the Blind National Convention in Austin, Murray brings stories of kids bursting with excitement for tennis and conversations that could reshape accessibility at major sporting events, while Allison nominates herself as the answer to the US men's striker problem.
The pride talk gets real, too. Murray and Allison unpack why Disability Pride was never just a celebration, sharing the personal side of diagnosis, shame, and the invisible disabilities the world keeps sweeping under the rug. With disability rights facing fresh challenges in the news, they make the case that a community 1.3 billion strong is anything but powerless, and that a single phone call can matter more than you think. Some things deserve to be sung from the rooftops.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:

Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

In Episode 2 of Shut the F Up, Murray Elbourne and Alison take on the DEI spectrum and ask where disability actually sits within it. Recorded on Juneteenth, it opens on the history of the holiday and what it means across every minority group, before widening into why disability was so often left out of diversity, equity, and inclusion, only to become one of the first things cut. Drawing on Murray's years in sport and as a CEO in Australia and Alison's two decades as a disability rights lawyer in the US and abroad, they compare how different countries value, or devalue, disability at work and in daily life.

The conversation covers visible and invisible disability, the legal right not to disclose at a job interview set against the real stigma that keeps people silent, and the fear factor that stops well-meaning people from starting a conversation at all. Murray and Alison are candid about the exhaustion of constant educating, the divisions inside the disability community, and the strength found in intersectionality and working together, with reference to Crip Camp, Section 504, and the civil rights movement. Their weekly top three takes aim at big-platform figures making sweeping statements, and the episode closes on a simple message: meet people as individuals.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:
Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

This podcast is focused on disability and discussion topics relating to rights of people who are compromised or have a need to advocate for themselves. Allison, a disability rights lawyer with legal blindness and Murray, a CEO of corporate business with legal blindness use their lived experience and world travel perspectives to ensure all aspects of a relevant topic are discussed and advocated for. This is not a cancel culture or political podcast but rather a disability advocacy discussion that educates and engages real talk debate around key topics.

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:
Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.