Soundsphere's Dom Smith was a guest on Brooke Millhouse's Disabled & Proud podcast, discussing what it's like being a professional in the media and music industry with Cerebral Palsy.

This week on Disabled and Proud, Brooke Millhouse is joined by Dom Smith, the “happiest man in Britain,” whose philosophy is "Don't be a dick & do cool shit". He chats about his own experiences with cerebral palsy, how this influences his work, and how he went about creating a platform for other young music journalists. He discusses encounters with curious strangers, and all of the weird and wonderful questions that he gets regarding his disability. Dom also shares insights on his own podcast "Gimme a Hull Yeah."

In this episode you will hear:

Dom’s experiences with cerebral palsy from childhood to the present time, and how he finds workarounds for every situation. Dom’s views on change, inspiration and motivation. “Within your community, within your space, you can make a change and then that might grow from there.” How Dom responds to curious strangers asking questions, even when they’re sometimes insensitive. The positive and negative impacts Dom’s disability has had on his career in the music industry. Why it’s incredibly important to “not be a d******d” as much as possible, in Dom’s own words, and other advice for aspiring music journalists. How having cerebral palsy taught Dom to be more empathetic and patient.

Enjoyed this show? Tell us your favourite moment by connecting with Brooke via https://www.instagram.com/disabledandproudpodcast/

About This Show:

Disabled and Proud is the show that brings listeners a different perspective on disability. Each week, this podcast highlights an awesome disabled guest speaking about their own disability, and why they are proud to be disabled and to be themselves.

The conversations in this show will explore life in general for disabled people and the challenges they face socially, mentally, and physically. This show is raw, open, honest, funny, welcoming and educational.

Disabled & Proud does exactly what it says on the tin! And whilst we are creating this space for disabled people to be unashamedly themselves, without needing to conform for society, this is not about toxic positivity. This show will be shining a big, bright light on disability without it being “Paralympic or pity”.

As you will hear, disability is WHOLE, COMPLETE & PERFECT, and whilst the topic of disability can be quite heavy - because we definitely don't shy away from the bad days - this podcast is about having fun too! Our aim is to play a part in reclaiming the word disability - turning it from inadequacy to perfection!

Key Takeaways

Anyone can make a change within their community. Empathy is a skill that can be developed over time.