Beyond the Binary: Maria Pendolino on Disability, Fat Liberation, and Voiceover

About this episode

Maria Pendolino discusses her experiences with disability, fat liberation, and the voiceover industry.

Voice actor Maria Pendolino joins Lily for an episode that challenges the narrow way society views disability. Maria shares her experiences as an ambulatory mobility-aid user, explaining how fluctuating conditions are often misunderstood or erased in media and medicine. With candid honesty, she connects her journey of psoriatic arthritis, knee replacements, and self-advocacy to building a career that truly works for her body, through voiceover and a fully accessible home studio. The conversation also takes on fat bias in healthcare, how outdated tools like BMI continue to be used to deny or delay care, and the scripts Maria uses to set boundaries in appointments. Her message: you deserve to be treated as a whole person, not reduced to a number or assumption. Maria details the creation of the Disabled Voice Actors Directory, now housed under the National Association of Voice Actors, which helps casting directors find authentic talent. It’s a resource born out of a belief that disabled people don’t just deserve representation on-screen, they should be hired behind the microphone, too. Key Moments 02:50 Breaking the myth of disability as “all or nothing” 06:02 What fluctuating…

People in this episode

Host: Lily

Guest: Maria Pendolino

Topics covered

• disability representation
• fat liberation
• voiceover industry
• self-advocacy
• healthcare bias
• accessible workspaces

Keywords

• disability
• voice acting
• self-advocacy
• BMI
• healthcare
• psoriatic arthritis
• accessible studio
• fat bias

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Association of Voice Actors, Easterseals

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