Show 99 Navigating Your Normal​

In today's episode, host Lori Boll speaks with Vanessa Vanek—a fiber and digital media artist, international educator, and proud disabled woman—on the SENIA Happy Hour Podcast.

Vanessa shares how her lived experience with Spina Bifida has shaped both her art and her teaching. From Kansas to Shanghai, her story is a powerful reminder that beauty doesn’t live in society’s view of perfection—it lives in authenticity, vulnerability, and bold creative expression.

We talk about:

• How art can challenge ideas of beauty and normalcy
  

• What it’s like teaching across cultures as a disabled educator
  

• Why inclusive classrooms need representation in every brushstroke
  

• Practical tips for teachers who want to bring disability inclusion into the art room
  

You don’t want to miss this one. Tune in and be inspired.

Connect:

• Vanessa’s email

• Vanessa’s Portfolio

• LinkedIn

  Resources From Today’s Show:

• UNICEF Video