Larry Wanger: founder and Producer of DisabilityNation

DisabilityNation was founded in 2006 by Larry Wanger. The show is produced in Phoenix Arizona. As a person with a life-long disability, Larry is very familiar with some of the stereotypes and beliefs that some have about people with disabilities. He believes that having a disability is simply part of his life and something that isn't the end of the world.

Larry has devoted his career and professional life to helping others with disabilities to achieve independence and self-sufficiency. He began his professional career with Disability Advocates of Kent County, the center for independent living in Grand Rapids Michigan. He worked in the areas of employment, business development, and community organizing, individual and systems advocacy, grant writing, reporting and management with the organization. Larry worked with DAKC for six years.

In October of 2004 Larry moved to Phoenix and began working with The Arizona Bridge to Independent Living. He is currently the Operations Manager of ABIL's employment services unit which provides services through the Ticket to Work program and to recipients of TANF benefits.

Outside of his professional life, Larry enjoys music, sports, reading and working with computers. and is active in the local disability comunity. Larry is an avid Detroit Red Wings fan and, though he now lives in Phoenix, still roots for his life-long favorite baseball team, the Detroit Tigers.

Erika Jahneke: Writer and Blogger

Erika Jahneke is a disability activist, progressive, writer, and media obsessive who remains really shocked that somebody who types with one finger and describes “weird sounds” to tech support ever carved out a place in the blogosphere. She is currently writing her second detective novel set in the Phoenix area, where she has been a life-long resident.

Erika's work has appeared in such diverse sites/publications as The High Hat, Breath and Shadow, Kaleidoscope, Either Relevant Or True, and the November3rdClub Journal, which nominated her story, “The Miracle of Public Transit” for Best of The Net 2007. In those rare moments when she’s not listening to the voices in her head or coveting strangers on the television screen, Erika loves ethnic food, reading voraciously, and soul music of the seventies. She looks forward to finally getting some mileage out of her Clinton-era journalism degree through her work on Disability Nation, but honestly? She really wants to direct.