Rachel Kallem Whitman: Living with Bipolar:
May 23, 2023
Hosted by Joyce Bender
[Download MP3] [itunes] [Bookmark Episode]
Guest Information
Episode Description
Joyce welcomes Dr. Rachel Kallem Whitman to the show. Dr. Whitman is an educator, advocate, and memoirist who has been living with bipolar since 2000. As a disability studies professor, she teaches courses on unpacking ableism and challenging sanism. Her speeches, interviews, and writings have garnered acclaim locally in her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, across the United States, and internationally. Rachel’s memoir, Instability in Six Colors, paints a vivid picture of what it is like living with a chronic mental health disability, trauma, and a complicated relationship with sanity, suicide, and self-love. Rachel will be discussing her career, her struggle with bipolar, and her passion to help others who also live with mental health disabilities.
Disability Matters
Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific Time on VoiceAmerica Variety Channel
Competitive employment and empowerment for people with disabilities is the emphasis of this show. Broadcast live and captioned in real-time for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, we discuss how people with disabilities can secure career opportunities, and how employers, organizations and individuals can support employment and empowerment of people with disabilities.
Joyce Bender
Joyce A. Bender is the CEO and president of Bender Consulting Services, Inc. Bender Consulting recruits and hires individuals with disabilities, across the United States and Canada for competitive career opportunities in the public and private sectors. In 1985, Joyce survived a life-threatening accident caused by a misdiagnosis of epilepsy. Due to her personal experience living with both epilepsy and a hearing disability, she founded Bender Consulting Services, Inc. in 1995.
Joyce is the past-chair of both the board of the American Association of People with Disabilities and the national Epilepsy Foundation. She has received awards from both the Bush and Clinton administrations.
Joyce speaks across the United States and internationally representing the State Department on informational exchanges related to disability employment best practices. She has represented the State Department in programming with Panama, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya, and Tunisia.