Everything You Know About Disability Is Wrong

Shane and Hannah Burcaw, creators of the YouTube channel Squirmy and Grubs, join Lily and Erin for a wide-ranging conversation about relationships, content creation, and what people consistently misunderstand about disability. As a married couple whose lives are highly visible online, Shane and Hannah share how public assumptions, especially about love, worth, and caregiving, show up in comment sections far more than in real life.

They reflect on how a viral interview shifted their channel from casual vlogs to a platform that sparks deeper conversations, and how they learned to balance humor with heavier topics without losing their audience. From navigating internet cruelty to deciding how much of their lived experience to share on camera, Shane and Hannah speak candidly about pressure, boundaries, and staying grounded.

The episode also explores how caregiving fits naturally into their relationship, why long-form storytelling still matters, and how shared routines, sarcasm, and trust keep their partnership strong. Throughout the conversation, Shane and Hannah emphasize curiosity, patience, and showing up honestly, online and offline.

03:34 What’s wrong about disability, worth, and relationships

05:39 Why cruelty shows up online but never in real life

07:58 Going viral and suddenly becoming public educators

10:45 Shifting from fun vlogs to purpose-driven storytelling

13:40 Mixing humor with hard conversations so people keep listening

16:01 The pressure to always create disability-focused content

19:20 Why “normal” couple trends never stay neutral online

22:51 Long-form content as a space for nuance and depth

25:57 Caregiving, autonomy, and public misunderstanding

30:04 Writing books to show the range of disabled relationships

39:36 Rituals, routines, and what actually keeps their relationship strong