“I Wrote the Disability Story I Needed as a Child”: NYT Editor Wendy Lu on Her Novel “Casting April”

“I Wrote the Disability Story I Needed as a Child”: NYT Editor Wendy Lu on Her Novel Casting April

[00:00:00] Wendy Lu: Part of writing this book was imagining what was the novel that I wish I had as a little girl. It’s about her hatching this plan to prove to everybody, hey, I can be a star and have a disability. My disability is not a big deal, but everyone else seems to make it a big deal. I’ve had people come up to me and strangers be like, can I pray for you? And it usually comes from a good place, but I think it’s still based on assumptions of thinking that, oh, my life isn’t fulfilling or that I need to be saved because of my disability.

[00:00:56] Karina Sturm: Welcome to the Global Disability News Network podcast, powered by GADIM, the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment. We are a disabled-led, accessible multimedia platform where disability isn’t a side note.

[00:01:10] It’s the lens. We share stories that center the diverse perspectives of people with disabilities, and report on how decisions, systems, and events in everyday life impact the disability community worldwide. I am Karina Sturm, News Director of the Global Disability News Network, and your co-host. With me is co-host and fellow journalist, Amy Zayed.

[00:01:32] Amy Zayed: Hello, lovely to meet you for this.

[00:01:39] Karina Sturm: For this episode, we are very, very happy to be joined by Wendy Lu. Wendy’s a journalist and editor at The New York Times, and the author of the new young adult book. Her work speaks to questions of representation, storytelling, and what it means to shape disability narratives within mainstream media. Hi, Wendy.

[00:02:01] Wendy Lu: Hi. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. Super excited to be here.

[00:02:06] Amy Zayed: It’s lovely to have you, Wendy. So good. So good to finally speak to you after, after having heard so much and read your book. Wow.

[00:02:13] Wendy Lu: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that so much.

[00:02:18] Karina Sturm: Yeah, Amy’s already a fan. I know. She kept ranting about her book — and not ranting, rambling. Oh my god. See, my brain fog is kicking in and I’m not ready.

[00:02:28] Wendy Lu: Aw, I’m glad you liked it.

[00:02:32] Amy Zayed: No, I really, I, I really am a fan. I’m gonna talk to you later about it, but yes, it’s one of my favorite books at the moment. No, it’s actually my favorite book at the moment. So, yeah.

[00:02:43] Wendy Lu: I’m so glad. I feel like, as an author — especially like a debut author — you never really know how people will receive your book. So I’m really glad to hear that you enjoyed it, and I can’t wait to talk more about it.

[00:03:00] Amy Zayed: I’m going on about it all the time, saying oh how much I like it. Everyone else who hasn’t read it — just give us an idea what it’s all about.

[00:03:08] Wendy Lu: Sure. Casting April is a middle-grade novel. It’s about this really talented 12-year-old girl named April. And she is just like very passionate about all things theater and Broadway. She’s an amazing actress. And she decides to audition for her school’s fall play. She thinks that she’s knocked it out of the park, and then she finds out that she actually didn’t get it because the theater director decided she wouldn’t be good for it simply because she has a disability.

[00:03:50] So it’s kind of about her hatching this plan to prove to everybody, like, hey, I can be a star and have a disability. And it’s also about her kind of learning how to believe in herself and not maybe focus so much on the external validation. But also, it’s hard because it’s like she knows that she has talent, and when someone underestimates her, there’s a sense of like, wait, I know that I can do this.

[00:04:26] Watch me. So, yeah, that’s essentially what the book is about, and I’m excited for readers to discover it.

[00:04:37] Amy Zayed: So what kind of conversation about disability representation could that book bring up? I mean, especially for young adults or young children? I said, you know, when I’ve read the book, I said to Karina, oh my God, I wish someone had given me that book when I was 12. ‘Cause obviously I’m, yeah, I’m quite old. Well, back in the eighties and nineties, no way you’d have that book.

[00:05:03] Wendy Lu: Yeah. I feel like I definitely — part of writing this book was imagining what novel I wished I had had as a little girl. And you know, the main character, April, she has the same disability that I have. I have a tracheostomy tube that helps me breathe.

[00:05:28] I’ve had it ever since I was a baby. And I’m 33 now, so more than three decades. It’s all that I’ve ever known. I have it because I was born with bilateral vocal cord paralysis. So it affects my breathing, but it doesn’t affect my voice. I can speak. And when I was younger I used to love to do theater as well.

[00:05:57] So April and I shared this disability and also this enjoyment of theater. I don’t do theater anymore, but I used to love it back in school. So I brought in a lot of those experiences into this book. And yeah, in terms of different themes of the book, a lot of it is about what it’s like moving through a world where you have a physical, visible disability that is apparent when you first meet me or April — maybe you can hear it in my voice or the way that I breathe.

[00:06:50] And yeah, what it’s like to move through a world where people kind of judge you immediately upon meeting you, and then kind of underestimate you based on your disability, and kind of having to always prove yourself or think about, why am I not good enough? When in reality it’s not us. It’s the way that other people perceive us, and non-disabled people making assumptions based on what they don’t know. So that’s maybe one of the broader themes, but there are a bunch more as well. I’m happy to talk about it too.

[00:07:36] Amy Zayed: Yeah, absolutely. I’m sorry, Karina, you wanted to say something?

[00:07:38] Karina Sturm: Oh, no, it’s all good. Keep going. You actually — I think you read the book in like one day. It took you much less time.

[00:07:48] Amy Zayed: No, no. Honestly, because — no, I was the only — ’cause there was — it hit me on so many levels, Wendy. I mean, I was the only brown girl in my grade when I was at school for a long time, until I think when I was almost the end of high school. I think the last two years of high school we got two more brown girls. And all my school life I was always the alien — the brown, North African kid that has a visible disability, the blind, the blind brown girl. And it always alienates you, and you always have to prove yourself. And I could, I could, I could relate to April, I could relate to Zara so much. And I was like, God, I’ve heard this all before. This is me in a nutshell. Thank you so much. And looking at the time we’re in, even more than ever, politically and socially, I think these topics are so important.

[00:08:58] All: Yeah.

[00:08:58] Amy Zayed: Was that something that you — or did anyone talk to you about? Did you ever talk to anyone about it? Was this something you wanted people to kind of talk about in class or in the playground, wherever?

[00:09:13] Wendy Lu: Yeah, absolutely. It’s funny because when I think back on when I was younger — even now I get questions all the time on the street, in the subway, people asking, what’s that around your neck? Sometimes it’s more polite questions, other times maybe not so much. I’ve had strangers come up and be like, can I pray for you? And it usually comes from a good place, but I think it’s still based on assumptions — thinking that my life isn’t fulfilling or that I need to be saved because of my disability.

[00:10:02] And so I think when I was younger — actually, I remember in sixth grade, it was like the first day of middle school and the teacher asked me to stand up in front of the whole class and to basically talk about my disability. And I feel like I, I feel very mixed about it because on one hand I, I think it is good and helpful to share with other young people and adults who maybe don’t know about my trach tube what it is.

[00:10:41] Show that I am a peer, I have a disability and I have all these interests, and I am a multifaceted person. At the same time I feel weird about it because there is something — I don’t know if objectifying is the right word, but something about the disability gaze — I stood up in front of the class so that all my peers could look at me, and the disability was sort of on display. And I think I could have said no — it’s not like they made me go up. They asked if I would be willing to do that, and I did. And it’s kind of a peculiar thing to ask a young girl to do.

[00:11:40] But it’s like, would I have wanted an adult to speak for me? I don’t think so either. So that’s a very strong memory in my mind. I had kids growing up all the time who would ask about my disability. And I think nowadays, because I’m an adult now and I’ve had 30-plus years to practice this, I am very open to questions and people who do want to know more and are respectful about it. But I know not all disabled people feel that way. Nobody’s entitled to your personal information.

[00:12:25] Wendy Lu: And so it really is a case-by-case basis.

[00:12:29] Amy Zayed: I also think — did — sorry, sorry, sorry. You can go on. Go on, Karina.

[00:12:33] Karina Sturm: How did you manage this kind of balance of trying to bring in your own experience, trying to bring in a disability lens, but also not focusing too much on the disability?

[00:12:48] Wendy Lu: Yeah, so I think there’s one line that April says kind of in the last two thirds of the book where she says, I feel like my disability is not a big deal, but everyone else seems to make it a big deal. And I feel like that is so true, at least oftentimes for me, where people have all these questions and they’re really worried about X, Y, Z, and I’m like, I really just want to try to live my life like everybody else. And it’s not something that — I mean, I live with it every day, but I’m not constantly — tired, excuse me — talking about it. I’m just living my life.

[00:13:42] And so I think when I was writing this book, it really is about how this is who April is. She’s always had a trach tube, like me. She loves theater and acting. This is what she wants to do. It brings her joy. But then because of other people’s assumptions, she’s not able to show what she can do, simply because of their assumptions and kind of ableism.

[00:14:14] And so it’s like even it is about disability — that’s such a big theme — but even more so, I think it’s about breaking down misconceptions of what people think about your disability and showing that we are, yes, disabled, and we’re so much more. And so yeah, I feel like it is about disability and also showing that there’s so much more as well.

[00:14:52] Karina Sturm: I’m curious — usually when one tries to pitch a disability-related story, it doesn’t matter if it’s fiction or nonfiction, it’s usually kind of a hard sell. And now you are with a huge publishing house. How hard was it to sell that story?

[00:15:11] Wendy Lu: Yeah, so I just want to give a little bit of background. I started writing this book at the end of 2019. So very much it was the thing that helped me survive the pandemic from a mental health perspective. And I spent basically two to three years writing this book. And I think it was in 2023 when I signed with my agent. I’m happy to talk more about that process. I signed with my agent in 2023 and then we went out on submission in 2024, I believe, and then a few months went by and then we sold to Penguin Random House.

[00:16:03] But I think there’s so much in the submission process that is very elusive, especially to authors who haven’t gone through it before. And it really is like a roller coaster where you work with your agent to decide which imprints are we going to pitch this book to, and why, who are the editors who maybe really champion inclusive storytelling, or who might be interested in — have been interested in similar books.

[00:16:42] And so we did get lots of rejections as well. I think a big factor is actually related to the middle-grade market. Middle grade covers children ages eight to 12, and for the last several years, middle grade just hasn’t been doing so great. So it’s been really hard to break into the industry in general. And so that was a really big factor in some of the rejections — editors saying, I love this, but I think I’m not sure how to sell it in this market given that middle grade is so tough right now.

[00:17:40] From the feedback that we got, a lot of editors did really appreciate the disability storyline. It was just the factor of middle grade that was challenging. But I know that historically disability has been something that can be challenging — just kind of pitch and show, hey, this is something that really matters and there are readers out there who are craving this kind of story.

[00:18:05] Something I’ve wondered about, and I still kind of worry about sometimes, to be totally candid — not a lot of people have heard of tracheostomy tubes. And when you say bilateral vocal cord paralysis, it’s a very technical medical term. And I think there are a lot of other types of disabilities that maybe people have heard of or encounter a lot more. And so I do have this maybe internalized ableism fear of, oh no, what if the fact that trach tube is so unfamiliar — could that be a factor in whether or not people are interested in this book?

[00:18:59] So there is that thought as well, for sure. I don’t know if I answered your question, but yeah.

[00:19:08] Karina Sturm: You did.

[00:19:09] Wendy Lu: Okay. Okay. Good. Can I –

[00:19:12] Amy Zayed: Can I, can I add something? I’d just like to go a bit — just one last question for me at least about the actual characters, because what I liked about it — I mean, you covered everything from ableism, visible disabilities, invisible disabilities. You covered even the fact that you need visibility from someone like Nancy, who’s the journalist. But there’s one thing that I felt was missing, and I was wondering whether you did that on purpose or whether you just felt it wasn’t the right thing at the right time for this book. What was missing was — okay, everyone who had been either a bully or was ableist had a reason. Ms. Rooney had a reason because she had an invisible disability. We had Graham, who — yeah, even it was in his upbringing. But sometimes we face ableism just because of ableism, because some people are just — I’m sorry to say, but some people are assholes out there, and you can edit this out if you like.

[00:20:23] But some people are just not nice. They’re just the way they are, and you didn’t feature those kinds of people. So the kind of — okay, sometimes you have to stand up for yourself, because in many ways sometimes I was thinking, if I had been in April’s position, I don’t know how she kept silent for so long. Was there a reason for not doing that? For not featuring those people, you know?

[00:20:48] Wendy Lu: Yeah. You know, it’s funny — I actually had another character in the book earlier on who kind of fit this description of someone who’s just a straight-up not good person, bad person, who is not just ableist but is like a horrible character. And it was another teacher who basically had history with Ms. Rooney — they knew each other back in the day — and was just always really horrible. And I ended up taking him out. It was something that my editor and I kind of talked about, and it was kind of like, one, he felt a little one-dimensional, and he also felt a little bit too convenient to be in certain scenes.

[00:21:45] He was just a really horrible person, and there was just something about not feeling like maybe some of the things he said were necessarily realistic, I guess. Not that there are obviously not horrible teachers out there, but just like certain things that he would say and do didn’t seem to fit the rest of the book.

[00:22:15] And we also had to bring down the word count just a little bit. So we ended up taking him out. And it is something that I thought about. I do like to write very complex characters. Even with Ms. Rooney, there was a point where I felt like I was facing a fork in the road — I can either make Ms. Rooney a really straightforward character where she is just ableist, doesn’t understand disability at all, and is straight-up just a villain.

[00:22:41] But I decided to give her a little bit more of a backstory and some more complexity, not because I think that ever excuses anything. And not to give too much away, but by the end we kind of have a sense of, okay, she recognizes that what she did wasn’t right, and that there are some consequences. So I wanted her to be a multifaceted, complex person. Disabled people and teachers, adults can make mistakes, and they’re not without flaws as well.

[00:23:42] And sometimes that is also part of reality. And it doesn’t mean that they’re straight-up bad people, but they do have some learning and unlearning to do, and I wanted to kind of depict that basically. Yeah.

[00:24:01] Karina Sturm: Now you said you started writing this during the pandemic and it kind of helped you cope with mental health and whatever. How much was writing, like in your childhood — was this always kind of a coping mechanism or a way to express yourself?

[00:24:18] Wendy Lu: Yeah, so I have always loved writing ever since I was little. I can’t actually remember a time when I wasn’t writing. It definitely is and always has been a coping mechanism, a way for me to sort of absorb and understand myself and the people around me, the world around me. And so it’s just something that brings me immense joy and happiness.

[00:24:50] And even when I was writing this book — if you ask any writer, they’ll tell you, you think that writing is supposed to be fun, but many times it’s actually really grueling. And it is true. So many times I would struggle with many scenes — does this make sense? Are these character motivations realistic? Oh no, the logistics — they were on this side of the hallway, but now they’re over there. There are so many little things in writing that you have to think through, and how is this story gonna resolve?

[00:25:31] But I really enjoy that element of trying to untangle these threads of a story and make them make sense — make them say something that helps other people feel less alone or feel like they’re not the only people going through something. And I know authors and educators like to say that books for kids are mirrors and windows and sliding glass doors.

[00:26:02] And I really love that analogy because you get to see characters who remind you of yourself, and you feel seen and not alone. And other children who haven’t been through experiences in a book yet get to understand — they get to build empathy for people. And so I think that’s also what books have always been for me as well, even now. Yeah.

[00:26:37] Karina Sturm: Amy, for you, how did you get into writing — or radio? Well –

[00:26:43] Amy Zayed: Well, it was –

[00:26:44] Karina Sturm: Journalism.

[00:26:45] Amy Zayed: It actually — I mean, it started — I remember back when I was like 11 or 12, I used to carry these old cassette recorders with integrated microphones, really small ones. And you could put your headphones in and activate the integrated microphone. I would run around and record simply everything. I still have these sound diaries where I’d go, I don’t know, 15th of July, 1987, and I would kind of tell what’s happening around me and what I did and who I had an argument with and which teacher was really nice and which wasn’t and who was good.

[00:27:30] And when I was 14, I basically stumbled into it because my mom was so obsessed with culture. And she obviously dragged me to each and every film and ballet and discotheque since I was three. And then I met a program director of British Forces Broadcasting Service who saw something in me that I didn’t see when I was 14, and he trained me. And that’s it. That’s me. Done. I never left journalism ever since I started when I was 14 and never, never looked back. Really.

[00:28:02] Wendy Lu: I love that. I love that so much. I’m curious — what about you, Karina? How did you get into journalism and your work now?

[00:28:11] Karina Sturm: Oh God. That was a very long, complicated route, actually. I remember my first German teacher at school was like, the only thing you should never be doing or considering is anything with writing. Which was very discouraging.

[00:28:29] Amy Zayed: That doesn’t sound like Karina at all, to be honest.

[00:28:33] Karina Sturm: It is. It’s so funny because back then we would only write boring stuff, things that I was really not interested in. Like you would write how you decorate a table, for instance. And I’m like, well, can we write something fun, like something where I can have an argument or a discussion about a topic or whatever. So language was really neat and it was not a thing for me. It was just no fun. And then I went a completely different route and actually became a doctor’s assistant first. And then I studied laboratory technology — or whatever the English word for it is. So basically I was a lab tech, and then I became chronically ill and then everything just kind of fell apart.

[00:29:19] And there was like — 10 years ago, no, oh my god. Longer — 15 years ago. And from that moment on, I basically started a blog documenting my whole journey to finding a diagnosis, which I’ve always — I’ve always written diaries since I’ve been, I think, six years old or so. Since I could write, I would write a diary.

[00:29:41] And so the blog became basically my diary about how I found my diagnosis four years later after becoming sick. Yeah. And then it just kind of evolved into more writing. And then I was very lucky meeting the right people at the right time and kind of stumbled into a master’s degree in journalism. And yeah, that’s how I ended up in journalism — really by accident.

[00:30:09] Wendy Lu: Thank you for sharing that. I feel like a lot of people I know didn’t have linear paths to journalism, and a lot of people just kind of somehow fell into it or fell in love with it unexpectedly. So yeah, I really love that. Thank you both — I’m so glad we’re all doing this work. I feel like it’s really important.

[00:30:33] Amy Zayed: And you know what, I could so relate to April’s parents, because I had the same kind of dad. My mom was really, you know, very kind of daring. And my dad was, oh no, what if — if you become a journalist, oh my God, something could happen if you’re out there doing this and doing that. And I’m really — you know, he was really overprotective. I mean, I had Egyptian parents, you know what do you expect? So it was like, I could so relate to that. It even went as far as my dad — because I would go to my, my, the program director who trained me, he would say, okay, you come to the station whenever you’ve got school holidays and I’ll train you with our trainee.

[00:31:15] And that meant interview training, technical training, even legal media law, you know. And my dad gave me house arrest. He stopped my pocket money so that I couldn’t go there, because the train ticket cost quite a bit — the station was about an hour and a half away from where I was. And I just didn’t let anything stop me. And I remember writing a typewritten message when I got home from school with the number of the station, saying, you know where I am, I don’t care about your house arrest. And I just left. So yeah, I could relate to that as well.

[00:31:53] Wendy Lu: Yeah, I feel like with April’s parents, a lot of it is kind of inspired by my own family, my parents, because my parents are extremely loving. All they want is for me to be safe and healthy for my whole life. And I think a lot of parents feel that same way. And so especially when — when I was a baby, and even for the first 10 years of my life, I think it was such a precarious situation that parents experience a certain level of trauma.

[00:32:28] And then when I grew up, there is kind of always this sense of fear of any type of risk that I ever take. Is it worth it? Does the reward exceed any kind of potential downside? And with April, she does feel that sense of, I’m gonna show everybody that I can do this — including her parents — where her mom is, on the outside world, the real world is not so kind to people who are different. And she’s like, I just don’t want you to get hurt, things like that. And it’s all very understandable, but I think sometimes she doesn’t realize that doing that so much can just also hold April back from what she loves as well.

[00:33:32] It’s definitely something we see unfold in the book. And I feel like maybe a lot of disabled kids and also disabled adults have had similar experiences with their parents — being very, very protective, almost to a fault basically. And yeah, it’s complicated. Yeah.

[00:33:59] Karina Sturm: You know, funnily, I wasn’t born disabled, right? So I developed this when I was already an adult, which is, I think, a huge privilege in itself because I had a fairly regular childhood. But also at the same time, my parents were never confronted with disability or chronic illness, right? So it was like, I was already an adult. I was very independent, and then I moved back home and all of a sudden I was none of those things for quite a long time.

[00:34:43] And I remember when I was 30 years old — I mean, like really a grown-up, right? And this was after I already had my diagnosis. I was in a state of accepting my disability, very much okay with everything. And I went to see my best friend and we were just hanging out at her house — not even at a bar, just at home. And I wouldn’t text my mom for like an hour. And next thing that happens, it’s not even midnight, my mom is standing at my friend’s house shouting at me that I did not answer her texts.

[00:35:11] And I was like, it’s not midnight. I’m 30 years old and I’m at my friend’s house. What do you think happened?

[00:35:22] Wendy Lu: Oh my gosh. I relate to that so much. I’ve had many instances — even though I’m also in my thirties. And sometimes if I’m in the shower and I don’t pick up my phone, my parents will immediately call my husband, be like, where is Wendy? Is she okay? And there’s like this heart-pounding feeling — if I don’t respond immediately, there must be disaster somewhere. So yeah, I relate to that very much.

[00:35:54] Karina Sturm: Well, did something ever happen to the both of you? Because if your parents are so worried, were there actually bad experiences?

[00:36:03] Wendy Lu: Yeah. Or Amy, did you wanna say something?

[00:36:06] Amy Zayed: No, you start, you start, you start.

[00:36:10] Wendy Lu: Yeah. I mean, it’s hard because with my trach tube, I have had medical emergencies happen in my life that were very sudden, very scary, life-threatening. In fifth grade, my trach tube got blocked — and because that’s how I breathe, an ambulance arrived, and my home care nurse saved my life. So that was very scary and traumatic for my whole family. And then a few years later, I was playing baseball with a neighbor of mine, and we had played for years before then, and I was standing too close to the baseball bat — he was holding the baseball bat and I was standing too close.

[00:37:07] Basically — you can edit it out if it’s too rough — my trach tube came flying off because the baseball bat hit it. And so I think because of these experiences that are totally unexpected, dangerous, I think my family just developed this heightened sense of anxiety that anything bad could happen at any moment.

[00:37:32] And so it’s like — your body goes into overdrive trying to figure out if something bad is happening. So it’s hard because I completely understand why my parents can be so anxious. I think there’s definitely that experience. And also, 90% of the time when things are okay, that kind of protectiveness can feel a little stifling and can feel like — can you believe in me sometimes? Can you believe that I am capable of doing X, Y, Z things just like anybody else? And not everything is disaster all the time. So I think it’s a really complex thing that is like parenting and trauma and all of these things that are pretty relatable for a lot of disabled people.

[00:38:46] Karina Sturm: In terms of your careers — you both have completely different journeys and paths in journalism — what was maybe one of the most memorable moments and experiences, good or bad?

[00:39:01] Wendy Lu: In journalism?

[00:39:03] Karina Sturm: Yeah. Or in your career in general.

[00:39:07] Wendy Lu: Yeah. I can share briefly. I was applying for so many jobs. I finally landed one at HuffPost as an editor and video producer. And eventually I also did a lot of reporting there. I think most of my disability reporting I’ve done at HuffPost, and then I was at HuffPost for about three and a half years.

[00:39:33] And then I think 2022, I joined The New York Times as a senior staff editor. I’m a deputy now, and that’s sort of been my trajectory. But in some ways it hasn’t been linear because I was in healthcare and recruiting, and it has felt like a long road. And to answer your actual question about a memorable moment — I think one of my favorite stories that I’ve written was about disabled doctors during the pandemic, and sort of how doctors with disabilities experience a lot of ableism in the medical field. Medical students also experience discrimination in medical school. And it makes it almost impossible for disabled people to be in medicine.

[00:40:41] And there’s a kind of irony to that — the fact that doctors are supposed to help people manage their health conditions and understand this very intimately, and yet there’s rampant ableism in the field itself. And I really wanted to explore that irony and the tension there. And it was also during a time in the pandemic where hospitals were short-staffed. There was this idea that doctors had to be heroes — they couldn’t go to the restroom, they couldn’t have time to eat lunch — and that was sort of seen as inspirational.

[00:41:33] Which I feel like for disabled people, there are things that we can’t afford to do, like not go to the restroom, which continues to feed this ableism in the field and this tendency to not kind of see disabled people as less than. So I think that’s my favorite story that I’ve written.

[00:41:48] Karina Sturm: So, since we’re already pretty much at the end of this podcast, I think my last question for both of you is — what do you wish your future looks like? What’s next, and what’s the best case scenario? Like the outcome, no?

[00:42:07] Wendy Lu: Yeah. I think part of my job at The New York Times now is to help train other editors on the craft of editing. I’m also on the board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism, which is at Arizona State University. And I give a lot of trainings on reporting on disability with accuracy, respect, and care, and I definitely want to keep doing that. I feel like that gives me a sense of purpose and it makes me feel like I’m helping to improve coverage and helping other journalists understand how to cover disability.

[00:42:55] Supporting disabled journalists as well — especially younger disabled journalists, or journalists who have entered the field and maybe it’s their second career. I want to continue to support and mentor them. And then also on the book side, I absolutely want to keep writing books. I have multiple disabilities, so that’s something that is definitely woven into my creative work all the time, and I want to keep doing that. Yeah, I’m excited for the future. It’s always very busy, but I feel really fortunate and privileged to be able to do this work, and I feel like it’s a responsibility of mine to continue to tell stories and help other people — give them a platform to tell their stories.

[00:43:54] And yeah, I’m really excited for the future.

[00:44:00] Amy Zayed: Well, I think for me, there are two things. One thing is — I’ve, when I started journalism, I thought very much I didn’t want to do much disability stuff. And I think since COVID and since I got this autoimmune disease that I was talking about, and since it got diagnosed, I realized that actually I need to give back to the community, because I’m fairly privileged to do what I’m doing. So that’s when I started putting my focus a bit more on that. So I want to kind of explore that a bit more.

[00:44:55] But on the other hand, I want to also do more in my culture sector, and maybe do more — be more out there and make more people see that it’s possible and that it’s doable. And from hosting events to hosting radio shows to reporting on whatever — I just enjoy doing what I do. I like reporting, I like telling stories, and the more the merrier. I think there’s so much to explore, and I wouldn’t be able to tell you what my favorite thing is that I would like to explore. I just think the more interesting and the more curiosity it sparks, the quicker you’ve got me in it. So, yeah.

[00:45:28] Karina Sturm: I think I always find it funny when you say, Amy, that you don’t really want to write too much about disability, because you literally are — at least for the Global Disability News Network.

[00:45:40] Amy Zayed: I think, I think, I think you — what I mean is I don’t want to be primarily doing it. I, you know, that’s what I mean — I liked it, and I think that’s probably the unique thing about what I do. I like to be in both worlds. I’d like to be writing about disability and talking about it because I can empower other disabled people, and at the same time I can look back and do whatever — interview James Blake or the Gorillaz — and then get back to doing, you know, the Global Disability News Network. You know what I mean?

[00:46:08] Wendy Lu: You can straddle both worlds.

[00:46:10] Amy Zayed: Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:46:13] Wendy Lu: Yeah.

[00:46:13] Karina Sturm: Yeah. So this is kind of the end of this podcast. We have not spoken about anything that we planned, but that was okay because it was even better.

[00:46:25] Wendy Lu: It was great.

[00:46:27] Karina Sturm: If you want to learn more about Wendy’s work or the book, we are putting that in the show notes, of course. And Amy’s also going to write a review about the book, which I feel like everybody — oh wait — already knows the outcome of that. We’ll also put the link in the show notes for this. And just in case — I feel like nobody knows that — Wendy is a part of our upcoming film Props No More as well, so there’s gonna be a lot of Wendy on our channel in the future.

[00:46:58] Wendy Lu: Audiences may well tire of me.

[00:47:02] Karina Sturm: Well, thanks so much for being here and for sharing all of this. We really appreciate it.

[00:47:08] Wendy Lu: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. This was a really great conversation. And I also love learning more about your journeys as well.

[00:47:17] Amy Zayed: Thank you. Thank you for being here.

[00:47:20] Karina Sturm: Thank you. And if you’d like, you can tune in next time. Hopefully this was only one of many, many episodes to come. So please follow our podcast, send us ideas, or even contact us. We’d love to hear all of your perspectives.