Emily Ladau

Emily Ladau is a passionate disability rights activist, writer, and communications and cultural access consultant. She is the author of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally, published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Emily’s career began at the age of 10, when she appeared on multiple episodes of Sesame Street to educate children about her life with a physical disability. Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Emily graduated with a B.A. in English from Adelphi University in 2013 and had the honor of serving on their Board of Trustees from 2020-2024.

Central to all of Emily’s work is harnessing the power of storytelling to engage people in learning about disability. She has served as the Editor of multiple disability-focused publications, including Able News at The Viscardi Center, The Century Foundation’s Voices of Disability Economic Justice project, and the Rooted in Rights Blog.

As an ardent lover of the arts, Emily is committed to creating a more accessible cultural landscape. She has provided cultural access consulting and editorial support for entities including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, the Friends of the High Line, and The Architectural League of New York. She also works with Change for Balance and Easterseals Southern California on efforts to reimagine entertainment industry standards for disability inclusion.

Emily’s writing has been published in outlets including The New York Times, CNN, Vice, and HuffPost and she has served as a source for outlets including MSNBC, PBS NewsHour, NPR, and The Washington Post. She has spoken before numerous audiences about disability, from Microsoft to Comcast/NBCUniversal, and from the U.S. Department of Education to the United Nations. And, she co-hosts The Accessible Stall Podcast, a show that dives into disability issues.

In 2017, Emily was named as one of Adelphi’s 10 Under 10 Young Alumni. In 2018, she was awarded the Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities. In 2022, the Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism honored her with their Disability Advocate of the Year Award, the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities honored her with the Frieda Zames Advocacy Award, and The Viscardi Center honored her with the prestigious Henry Viscardi Achievement Award, which recognizes international leaders with disabilities. And in 2023, she was selected to receive the Progressive Women’s Voices IMPACT Award from the Women’s Media Center.

Emily is driven by her belief that by sharing our stories and making the disability experience accessible to the world, we will reach a world that is accessible to the disability community.