March 24, 2023

Fresh Take: Beth Leipholtz on Teaching Inclusion

As the hearing mother of a deaf child, Beth Leipholtz is raising her son in both hearing and Deaf cultures. She tells us about her work as an inclusion and accessibility advocate and about her new children’s book, THE ABCs OF INCLUSION.

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Raising a child with a disability is complicated, especially when you're navigating an ableist world on their behalf. Beth Leipholtz is an inclusion and accessibility advocate who believes in creating a more accepting world for our children.

As the hearing mother of a deaf child, Beth is raising her son, Coop, bilingually in both hearing and Deaf cultures. Beth shares her parenting journey on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram @bethandcoop, where she has built a community of more than 1 million people around disability inclusion.

Beth's new new children's book is THE ABCs OF INCLUSION.

Beth, Amy, and Margaret discuss:

  • Beth's experience learning about and processing Coop's disability
  • Learning ASL as a hearing person
  • Why she decided to share her experience on social media and become an advocate for inclusion.

Encouraging your kids to ask questions about other people's differences - and letting those people lead the conversation - is one of the best ways to teach them that everyone has value no matter who they are and what they can do.

Here's where you can find Beth:

In this episode Beth mentions the "Welcome to Holland" poem by Emily Perl Kingsley


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