Raising Kids Who See Disability as Belonging, Not Difference | Heather Avis (EP424)
Minimalist Moms Podcast | Simple Living for Overwhelmed Moms
Diane Boden
4.8 • 952 Ratings
🗓️ 18 December 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Heather Avis is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning podcaster, and founder of The Lucky Few movement. In this episode, Heather shares how parents and educators can foster inclusion, help children celebrate their uniqueness, and use affirming words to build confidence and belonging. We also discuss her new picture book, I Like You So Much, a heartfelt reminder that every child’s presence matters exactly as they are.
Links Discussed in This Episode |
- Diane's Resource: Post-Holiday Decluttering (EP99)
- Connect with Heather:
- Website
- Podcast
- Book: I Like You So Much: Celebrating What Makes You, You!
About Heather|
Heather Avis is a New York Times bestselling author, public speaker, podcaster, and a Down syndrome advocate. She is the founder of and chief visionary officer at The Lucky Few, an advocacy organization dedicated to shouting worth, shifting narratives, and reimagining what it looks like when we create spaces of belonging. She lives in Southern California with her husband Josh and three kids, Macyn, Truly, and August and two Goldendoodles, Maeby and George Michael.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | creating a book where the pictures are diverse and then knowing that and hoping that that's a tool |
| 0:05.5 | for families to use to further conversation because you're going to see characters in books |
| 0:10.6 | who have different disabilities or who might look different than you do and letting our homes |
| 0:14.9 | be the first place that we have that conversation about difference and about how incredible |
| 0:20.3 | the world is when we're all, |
| 0:22.0 | when we're around people who are different than us, how richer life is when we're like that. |
| 0:25.9 | And I really hope to that the book is used in schools and classrooms just to lay a foundation |
| 0:30.8 | of all of us are different. |
| 0:32.6 | And that is what makes us amazing. |
| 0:34.5 | And the things that are different about somebody else that maybe we're |
| 0:38.4 | unfamiliar with are opportunities for learning and growth and relationship. And we're going to |
| 0:43.9 | complement those things about each other. Right. We're going to say what we like about the thing |
| 0:48.1 | in someone else that's different from us and be able to learn more about that person or that |
| 0:52.6 | kind of disability. So the pictures in the book really lend themselves as a tool for parents to have those |
| 0:58.7 | conversations about diversity and inclusion and belonging. |
| 1:02.2 | This is Diane Bowden and you're listening to the minimalist moms podcast. |
| 1:06.1 | Today's guest believes one of the most powerful things we can give a child isn't praise |
| 1:10.0 | or performance-based confidence, |
| 1:11.6 | it's belonging. She spent more than a decade helping families and communities reimagined what |
| 1:16.5 | it looks like when we truly embrace differences, create inclusive spaces, and tell kids they matter |
| 1:22.0 | exactly as they are. Heather Avis is a New York Times best-selling author, award-winning |
| 1:27.4 | podcaster, and Down syndrome advocate who founded The Lucky Few, a movement centered on love, inclusion, and changing the narrative around disability. |
... |
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