LeDerick’s selected works

In our conversation, LeDerick shares his journey from special education to college, the pivotal moment when he decided to become a poet and learning disabilities activist, and what his advocacy work means to him and the impact he hopes to have on the world. He also gives a powerful recitation of his poem “Until Every Barrier Falls,” written to celebrate the beauty, strength and diversity of the disability community and his place within that community.

David starts by introducing his incredible friend—poet, speaker, and advocate for all people with disabilities, LeDerick Horne. He uses LeDerick’s own advice about introducing people: think of the last time you saw them and then why they’re here now. David last remembers walking with LeDerick on a cold Chicago day after eating delicious Ethiopian food and talking up a storm almost a year before this recording, and the reason for LeDerick being on Something Shiny goes deeper.

LeDerick Horne is a Black man, poet, activist, and person with dyslexia. He’s spoken at the White House. And he wrote a definitive book on hidden disabilities. But his life could have all turned out differently.

LeDerick Horne vividly remembers feeling separated, segregated, and marginalized as a little kid diagnosed with learning disabilities. In his work as an adult, he focuses on the importance of inclusion and how it can counteract students’ feelings of isolation.