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Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

By: Kintsugi Heroes
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Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience is a podcast by Kintsugi Heroes that shares honest, lived-experience conversations with people navigating disability, identity, and resilience. Hosted by Daniel Dougherty, this series creates space for stories that are often overlooked — stories of adaptation, strength, and what it really means to live in a world still learning what inclusion looks like. Each episode explores the human experience behind disability — not as something to define a person, but as one part of a broader story shaped by courage, relationships, and everyday moments. Through these conversations, Golden Threads aims to build understanding, reduce stigma, and strengthen connection across communities. Because when stories are shared with honesty and dignity, they don’t just inform — they connect.Copyright 2026 Kintsugi Heroes Hygiene & Healthy Living Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Disability, Resilience & Real Stories | Golden Threads Podcast Trailer

    Disability, Resilience & Real Stories | Golden Threads Podcast Trailer
    Apr 6 2026

    Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

    Golden Threads is a Kintsugi Heroes podcast hosted by Daniel Dougherty, sharing honest, lived-experience conversations with people navigating disability, identity, and inclusion.

    This series explores what it really means to adapt, persevere, and live fully in a world still learning what accessibility and inclusion look like in practice.

    Each episode brings forward real stories — not focused on labels, but on people, relationships, and lived experience.

    Topics covered:

    disability, resilience, lived experience, inclusion, accessibility, identity, mental health, community, personal stories

    About Kintsugi Heroes

    Kintsugi Heroes is an Australian not-for-profit dedicated to strengthening wellbeing through lived-experience storytelling.

    We create safe, respectful spaces where stories can be shared with dignity — helping people feel seen, heard, and connected.

    Learn more or support the work:

    https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

    https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate/#donate
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    2 mins
  • Leanne Watson: Three Acts, a Diagnosis, and a Life Built on Community

    Leanne Watson: Three Acts, a Diagnosis, and a Life Built on Community
    May 4 2026
    Leanne Watson sees her life in three acts — and the third one started the day a freshly minted GP finally took her seriously.For nearly a decade, doctors fobbed her off. Lose weight. Build glutes. You've had three kids. One specialist had her parade in her bra and undies and said she "looked fine." She was 42 when she was finally diagnosed with limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) — a rare, progressive neuromuscular condition that's been quietly dismantling her muscles ever since.In this Episode 1 of Golden Threads, host Dan Dougherty sits down with Leanne — now 60, podcaster, former community radio host, and one of the warmest advocates you'll meet — to talk about what it's actually like to become disabled in slow motion. The optimism. The grief that doesn't announce itself. The husband who decided this happened to both of them. The strangers who pray over her in hotel lobbies. And the barista at Chadstone who looked her in the eye and changed how she felt that whole day.This is a conversation about disability, inclusion, marriage, motherhood, advocacy, and the simple radical act of saying hello.Key Takeaways- A life in three acts. Leanne maps her 60 years into three chapters — the privileged childhood and young marriage, the family-building decades, and the third act that began the moment she was diagnosed at 42.- The cost of being dismissed. Nine years of being fobbed off by doctors before a young GP ordered the right blood test. A reminder that women, especially, get told their bodies are "just changing."- "This has happened to the both of us." Leanne's husband Gary's quiet philosophy — and what it teaches us about love, partnership, and refusing to make disability a solo project.- Inclusion is small, daily, and specific. From the strangers who pray over her uninvited to the barista who simply looked her in the eye — Leanne unpacks what real inclusion looks like in everyday Australian life.- Community is non-negotiable. Why she joined Women with Disabilities Victoria, started a radio show, and now hosts her own podcast — and why one phone call to a community group can change everything.Guest BioLeanne Watson lives on the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria with her husband Gary. She is the eldest of four, a mum of three, and grandparent to a growing family. After a career at Westpac and decades of part-time work and community volunteering, Leanne was diagnosed with limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) at 42. Today she is the host of You, Me and Muscular Dystrophy, a former presenter of Rolling Through Wednesdays on Pulse FM, and an active member of Women with Disabilities Victoria (Barwon Hub).Find Leanne:- Website: Leanne's Wheel Life — leanneswheellife.com - Podcast: You, Me and Muscular Dystrophy (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)- Instagram: @leanneswheellife Resources Mentioned- Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD) — overview via Muscular Dystrophy Australia: mda.org.au- Women with Disabilities Victoria (WDV) — wdv.org.au — Leanne is a member of the Barwon Hub- Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) — wwda.org.au- From the Outskirts — WDV's podcast featuring women with disabilities going about their lives- Rolling Through Wednesdays — Leanne's former weekly spot on Pulse FM (community radio, Bellarine), supported by Loretta Hart- You, Me and Muscular Dystrophy — Leanne's current podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple) Timestamps- 00:00 Cold open + welcome to Golden Threads- 01:01 Meeting Leanne — and the breathing tube on the desk- 02:42 What limb girdle muscular dystrophy actually is- 03:53 A life in three acts: childhood in Melbourne's east- 06:11 Meeting Gary in Year 11 — and a life built early- 08:19 Marriage, motherhood, and a quietly privileged life- 08:49 Something starts changing at 35- 09:46 Nine years of being fobbed off by specialists- 11:43 The blood test that finally cracked it open- 12:11 Diagnosis at 42 — and the third act begins- 13:35 The slow inventory: high heels, toilet frames, stairs- 17:58 "Each time I thought, this is it. It's not going to get worse."- 19:21 Optimism, pragmatism, and protection- 20:15 Gary's philosophy: "this has happened to the both of us"- 22:08 Parenting through progression- 23:07 What end of life looks like from here- 25:30 Loneliness, community, and being seen- 25:52 What it's like being treated as "different"- 27:46 The strangers who pray over her uninvited- 30:30 The wheelchair "speed jokes" — and why they sting- 31:54 What Dan got wrong, and what real inclusion looks like- 34:30 Choice, consent, and being pushed without permission- 34:56 The Chadstone barista who got it right- 36:32 Anatomy of LGMD — what it does muscle by muscle- 40:22 Why Leanne started You, Me and Muscular Dystrophy- 41:18 The power of community — book club, WDV, Pulse FM- 44:00 The radio show, the illness, and finding podcasting- 45:26 "Just make one phone call."- 47:48 Final reflections: we are only as strong as our weakest link- 50:08 ...
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    51 mins
  • Julie Fisher: A Mother's Advocacy, Down Syndrome, and the Glue That Holds a Family Together

    Julie Fisher: A Mother's Advocacy, Down Syndrome, and the Glue That Holds a Family Together
    May 18 2026
    Two years before Julie Fisher fell pregnant with her third child, the universe set her up.She'd just become friends with a woman named Tina, whose daughter Amy had Down syndrome. Julie had never met anyone with Down syndrome before. She watched Amy in the playground. She asked questions. And one of the answers — about how hard a postnatal diagnosis can be when nobody warned you — quietly rewrote what Julie would do if it ever happened to her family.It did. At 12 weeks pregnant, an ultrasound flagged a marker. At 15 weeks, an amniocentesis confirmed it. Then came five appointments with two different doctors pushing termination — until Julie yelled at them at 25 weeks that she wasn't going anywhere.In Episode 2 of Golden Threads, host Dan Dougherty sits down with Julie — author of five books, weekly radio host, motivational speaker, founder of an annual disability expo, and mum to 19-year-old Darcy — to talk about advocacy that starts before a baby is born, the fear-based stares that turned out not to be stares at all, and the signature line she takes everywhere: "Give people a chance and watch them shine."This is a conversation about motherhood, disability, inclusion, the slow work of changing minds, and the kind of family glue you don't see coming.KEY TAKEAWAYS- Advocacy that started before birth. How a friendship with another mum and a single conversation about postnatal diagnosis prepared Julie to say "we want to know" — and to push back hard against five appointments of termination pressure.- "He came into the world like a rock star." Born five weeks early with a roomful of doctors and students waiting to see how he'd cope, Darcy entered screaming. He's been entering the world that way ever since.- The Darcy effect on a family. Two older brothers, a busy house, and the third child who became the glue. Why Julie's other boys argue with him, stir him up, and treat him exactly like a brother — and why that's the win.- From defence mode to smiling back. Julie's honest account of being in mama-bear mode at every stare in the supermarket — and how learning to smile first changed her, her son, and a lot of strangers.- "Give people a chance and watch them shine." Julie's signature quote, plus the five books, the radio show, and the annual expo it now powers.GUEST BIOJulie Fisher is an Australian author, motivational speaker, weekly radio host, community organiser, advocate, and mum of three. She lives in Victoria with her family and her son Darcy, 19, who has Down syndrome. Julie is the author of five books, including "The Unexpected Journey", "The Magic of Inclusion", "From the Hearts of Mums" (gold award winner), the children's book "Big School", and her latest, "The Adolescent Journey". She hosts a weekly disability-focused radio show (now over 100 episodes deep) and founded her local disability expo. Her signature quote — "Give people a chance and watch them shine" — has become a small movement in itself.RESOURCES MENTIONED- "The Unexpected Journey" — Julie's first book about Darcy's birth and early years- "The Magic of Inclusion" — Julie's second book on community and acceptance- "From the Hearts of Mums" — anthology of 13 mothers of children with Down syndrome (gold award winner)- "Big School" — Julie's children's book- "The Adolescent Journey" — Julie's latest, on the teenage years and the practical side (Centrelink, NDIS, functional capacity assessments, tax file numbers)- Down Syndrome Victoria — dsav.asn.au- Carers Victoria — carersvictoria.org.au- Carers Australia — carersaustralia.com.au- NDIS — ndis.gov.auTIMESTAMPS- 00:00 Cold open + welcome to Golden Threads- 00:32 Meeting Julie Fisher — author, advocate, mum- 01:28 The friendship that set everything up — meeting Tina and her daughter Amy- 02:59 Pregnant with Darcy: the ultrasound, the nuchal fold, the question- 04:03 Walking into the obstetrician already knowing- 04:34 The amniocentesis result — and what it actually felt like- 05:13 Five appointments, two doctors, and the 25-week yelling match- 05:50 The mixed reactions of family and friends- 06:40 Tina's support group: 10 mums, every fortnight- 08:23 Where mother-bear advocacy actually comes from- 09:51 Mapping out a primary school life before he was born- 11:21 Darcy enters the world like a rock star- 12:33 Family life with three boys — and a baby in special care- 13:53 The brothers' protective instinct, and why she'd just sit back and watch- 15:34 Dual schooling: four days specialist, one day mainstream ("Darcy Day")- 16:41 Why high school had to be specialist — and why Darcy thrived- 18:01 Life after school: performing arts and the working farm- 19:05 The one thing she sometimes wonders about- 21:25 Worry, vulnerability, and the world getting better- 23:01 Going out in the community — stares, smiles, and learning to smile first- 26:15 Why "if you want to ask, ask" is part of the message- 27:41 The fear that drives a lot of awkward ...
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    58 mins
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