Gaelynn Lea on her Memoir "It Wasn't Meant to be Perfect", Music, Disability, and Connection

I’m delighted to welcome back Gaelynn Lea, the disability rights advocate, author, singer-songwriter, and fiddler. If you missed my first conversation with her last year it’s linked in the show notes. I really enjoyed reading her memoir It Wasn’t Meant to be Perfect, and if you haven’t ordered it yet we hope you will after listening to this episode. Gaelynn goes into some of the themes in the book and you’ll be hearing great stories that didn’t make it into the final edits. In fact, you’ll hear about the editing process and about her new book project as well! We start with the documentary Crip Camp which focuses on Judy Heumann and disability rights. You’ll also hear about Denis Huna and inclusive music making, the importance of ASL and other sign languages. We got into the importance of improving communication with medical professionals with people living with disabilities and also why Gaelynn chose to write about love, sexuality and marriage in her memoir. We also did a deep dive into motivating and encouraging music students. We’re including clips from 3 of Gaelynn’s music videos and the full videos on her YouTube are linked in the show notes. Complete Show Notes with ALL the links! (00:00) Intro(02:22) Memoir"It Wasn't Meant To Be Perfect”(05:56) dealing with medical professionals(08:23) stories from childhood, ASL and deaf culture(21:09) Medicaid, about Gaelynn’s song “I Wait” with clip (video linked in show notes)(26:09) Judy Heumann, film “Crip Camp”, disability rights(32:06) inclusive music performances Denis Huna(37:52) sexuality, “It Wasn’t Meant To Be Perfect” (41:48) other linked episodes and ways to support this series(42:41) husband Paul, with clip “The Long Way Around” (video linked in show notes), artist Lee Zimmerman(48:13) problems with pressure and perfectionism in music education (55:18) Gaelynn’s approach to teaching(01:02:19) accessible book tour(1:04:18) clip of “Lost in the Woods” (video linked in show notes)(01:05:25)making the video, touring, accessibility, Ian Brennan(01:11:47) love of dancing, childhood story (01:13:27) next book, editing process for the memoir