SHUT THE F UP

RET — A New Evidence-Based Approach to Vocational Rehabilitation Outcomes Ep 5 Bonus

Murray Elburn & Allison Defranco — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 15:04:37 -0700

In this bonus episode of Shut The F Up, Allison and Murray Elbourn discuss the launch of Amerability’s RISE EVOLVE THRIVE (RET) methodology and how it could strengthen the way Vocational Rehabilitation agencies, VR counselors, Pre-Employment Transition Services providers, and blindness and low-vision professionals assess participant development and employment outcomes.

RET moves beyond measuring program attendance or service completion. The methodology establishes an evidence-based starting point across the 10 Amerability Capability Pillars, then measures progression through a six-level scoring matrix from Beginner to Graduate. This creates a structured way to identify individual strengths, capability gaps, support needs, measurable milestones, and progress toward greater independence and competitive integrated employment.

The episode explores how RET can help state Vocational Rehabilitation agencies use assessment evidence to understand the person first, design individualized training and employment solutions, track measurable progression, and demonstrate outcomes over time.

For professionals working in Vocational Rehabilitation, Blind and Low Vision services, workforce development, transition services, Pre-Employment Transition Services, disability employment, independent living, and competitive integrated employment, this conversation introduces a different approach to accountability and participant development.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:
Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

Music Credit: @Beacon Hill

Disability Advocacy Requires Finding Your Fun: Fantasy Sports, NFL in Australia & Ed Sheeran E:5

Murray Elburn & Allison Defranco — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 16:19:07 -0700

Disability advocacy is serious work. But if we never step away and find our fun, we risk burnout, compassion numbness, and leaving our nervous systems with no opportunity to reset.

In this full-length episode of Shut the F Up: Disability Power Podcast, Murray and I talk about why joy, sports, community, and fun are essential parts of sustaining disability advocacy.

We get into fantasy sports leagues from the perspectives of blind people and people with other disabilities. We also discuss the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams playing in Australia, the teams’ very different travel strategies, and the reactions buy some Americans and Australians related to the pregame land acknowledgment.

We also take time to acknowledge September 19, 2023, when Azerbaijan launched its final attack on the ethnic Armenian population of Artsakh following months of blockade. During the blockade, at least 9,000 people with disabilities were among those living without reliable access to essential supplies, medical care, and support. My personal relationships with Armenian friends, including people close to me from Artsakh, and my years of disability rights work in Armenia make this an important moment to recognize.

We also celebrate Murray’s birthday, laugh about our fantasy sports teams, and clear up what I actually said about Ed Sheeran, Macklemore, and the latest conversation surrounding them.

Heavy subjects and lighter moments can exist in the same episode. Disability touches every part of society, and advocacy must be sustainable. Sometimes finding your fun is not stepping away from the work. It is what allows you to keep doing it.

Listen to the full episode of Shut the F Up: Disability Power Podcast, and stay tuned for our separate special-edition episode about Murray’s work with AMERABILITY and vocational rehabilitation.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Music Credit: @Beacon Hill

All you can eat topics buffet (Special Edition)

Murray Elburn & Allison Defranco — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0700

One episode. A whole buffet of disability-related conversations in the headlines. In this special edition, we move through some of the biggest conversations in the news and online and look at them through a disability lens.

We start with the way disability and autism are casually used to insult people online, including comments about Lionel Messi. From there, we talk about the Lindsay Clancy trial and the larger conversation around postpartum mental health, stigma, women being believed when they describe their symptoms and pain, and what can happen when people are dismissed for too long.

Then we turn to reports surrounding the USS Abraham Lincoln and the broader conversation about mental health among service members. Why are people so quick to call someone “weak” for struggling? Hardship is not a competition, and we should not wait for tragedy before taking someone’s mental health seriously.

We also get into immigration, disability, the Disability Pride flag and the assumptions people make online when they encounter something they don’t understand.

One of the things Allison talks about all the time is that disability should not be pushed to the side as though it exists in its own separate category. Disability is part of every society, every community and almost every major conversation whether people recognize it or not.

This episode is an example of exactly that. We can talk about sports, criminal cases, women’s health, military mental health, immigration, online culture and current events, and disability is still part of the conversation.

Historically, disability has been ignored, stigmatized, hidden or treated as something separate from the rest of society. Shut the F Up is about challenging that. We talk about the things people are often uncomfortable talking about, raise awareness and bring disability into the conversations where it has always belonged.
Different headlines. Different communities. One common thread: stigma thrives when we don’t talk about it.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Music Credit: @Beacon Hill

School Device Bans & Disability Rights: What Parents Need to Know (Special Edition)

Murray Elburn & Allison Defranco — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 21:18:34 -0700

States are restricting smartphones, smartwatches, smart glasses and other electronic devices in schools, but those policies do not automatically eliminate a disabled student’s access rights.

We discuss what families and students should know about school device bans, IEPs, Section 504, accommodations and disability-related technology. Allison also breaks down why parents should ask questions and understand their child’s individual access needs before assuming a statewide or schoolwide ban ends the conversation.

This special edition is about making sure families and students know that a blanket policy does not automatically erase disability-related access needs.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Music Credit: @Beacon Hill

Fights for your Rights: SHUT THE F UP E:4

Murray Elburn & Allison Defranco — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 20:56:36 -0700

In Episode 4 of Shut the F Up, Murray Elbourn and Alison DiFranco are back, and the fight for disability rights did not wait for them. Six states have dropped out of the challenge to Section 504 since January, and it took people calling, emailing, and talking to their neighbors. For anyone muttering that none of this works, Murray has a story from Louisiana. They dig into why Alaska is one of the last three holdouts, a history of Alaskans shipped out of state, many never seen again, and an audit rolling through every state that few outside Murray's industry know about. For listeners in Australia and the UK, your disability does not stop at a border, and neither does this fight.

From there it becomes a story about what the fight actually looks like. Advocacy is different for everyone, whether that is a protest, an email, or a video that draws the hate comments Alison has learned to laugh at. It means knowing your rights, the whole point of the Disability Power Arena. It means finding your fun before burnout finds you. And it means a plan to vote in November, from someone who has worked where blind people could not vote and will never tell you who to vote for. Expect a phone number she wants flooded, a small-town election decided by seven votes, a bear trap ballot question she could not read, and the politest possible way to tell ableism to shut the F up. It is loud, it is hopeful, and it lands on the line every advocate knows by heart: nothing about us without us.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Disability Pride Month: SHUT THE F UP E:3

Murray Elburn & Allison Defranco — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:43:10 -0700

In Episode 3 of Shut the F Up, Murray Elbourn and Allison Defranco flip the show's entire premise on its head. July is Disability Pride Month, and this time they want the disability community to speak the F up. The hour swings from World Cup chaos and smuggled ranch dressing to powerchair football, blind tennis, and the technology changing how blind fans experience live sport. Fresh from the National Federation of the Blind National Convention in Austin, Murray brings stories of kids bursting with excitement for tennis and conversations that could reshape accessibility at major sporting events, while Allison nominates herself as the answer to the US men's striker problem.
The pride talk gets real, too. Murray and Allison unpack why Disability Pride was never just a celebration, sharing the personal side of diagnosis, shame, and the invisible disabilities the world keeps sweeping under the rug. With disability rights facing fresh challenges in the news, they make the case that a community 1.3 billion strong is anything but powerless, and that a single phone call can matter more than you think. Some things deserve to be sung from the rooftops.

You can also stream this podcast on other platforms:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033tUSVlB9Fz0CL0rgwk9m
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-the-f-up/id1896890833
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61f891eb-e6bc-4b69-84d9-9421ff21cd28/shut-the-f-up

Other Resources

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:

Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

DEI -Juneteenth: SHUT THE F UP E:2

Murray Elburn & Allison Defranco — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 11:21:41 -0700

In Episode 2 of Shut the F Up, Murray Elbourne and Alison take on the DEI spectrum and ask where disability actually sits within it. Recorded on Juneteenth, it opens on the history of the holiday and what it means across every minority group, before widening into why disability was so often left out of diversity, equity, and inclusion, only to become one of the first things cut. Drawing on Murray's years in sport and as a CEO in Australia and Alison's two decades as a disability rights lawyer in the US and abroad, they compare how different countries value, or devalue, disability at work and in daily life.

The conversation covers visible and invisible disability, the legal right not to disclose at a job interview set against the real stigma that keeps people silent, and the fear factor that stops well-meaning people from starting a conversation at all. Murray and Alison are candid about the exhaustion of constant educating, the divisions inside the disability community, and the strength found in intersectionality and working together, with reference to Crip Camp, Section 504, and the civil rights movement. Their weekly top three takes aim at big-platform figures making sweeping statements, and the episode closes on a simple message: meet people as individuals.

Other Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murrayaelbourn/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murrayamerability?_r=1&_t=ZP-97LlF79lgCN
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-elbourn-69576543?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Amerability Website: https: https://www.amerability.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Amerability

About Amerability:
Amerability was born from a simple but powerful idea: that blind and low vision individuals deserve more than support — they deserve the tools, mentorship, and real-world experiences to build lives on their own terms. Founded by CEO Murray Elbourn, a legally blind leader with more than 25 years of executive experience in disability sports and workforce development across two continents, Amerability combines lived experience with professional expertise to create programs that don't just prepare participants for the world — they prove the world is already theirs to conquer. Murray's journey from captaining Australia's national goalball team and leading Disability Sports Australia as CEO to founding Amerability in the United States gave him a firsthand understanding of what blind and low vision individuals truly need to succeed: not sympathy, but strategy, structure, and someone who has walked the path before them. That philosophy is woven into everything Amerability does, from the way programs are designed to the mentors who deliver them, ensuring that every participant is met with high expectations, practical guidance, and the unwavering belief that their goals are within reach.

The R Word: SHUT THE F UP E:1

Murray Elburn & Allison Defranco — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 15:35:03 -0700

This podcast is focused on disability and discussion topics relating to rights of people who are compromised or have a need to advocate for themselves. Allison, a disability rights lawyer with legal blindness and Murray, a CEO of corporate business with legal blindness use their lived experience and world travel perspectives to ensure all aspects of a relevant topic are discussed and advocated for. This is not a cancel culture or political podcast but rather a disability advocacy discussion that educates and engages real talk debate around key topics.