Mar 4, 2025
In this week’s episode, I am joined by Jayne
Mattingly!
Jayne Mattingly is a disability advocate and eating disorder
recovery coach. She is the CEO of Recovery Love and Care, a global
virtual eating disorder recovery coaching curriculum and training
program.
She is also the Founder of the non-for-profit The AND Initiative, which aims to provide inspiration, advocacy, resources, support, and the gifting mobility aids to those with chronic illness and physical disabilities.
At age twenty-seven, Jayne was in a routine barre class when she suddenly lost the ability to move her body. By age 32, she went from healthy and able bodied, to someone who had undergone 19 brain and spine surgeries plus procedures and a total hysterectomy. She used a rollator on her wedding day.
Now, at 35, she relies on her wheelchair, rollator, and her service dog Wheatie (who she wrote about for Today.com).
Diagnosed with intracranial hypertension and Ehlers- Danlos syndrome, Jayne experienced an immense amount of what she has coined as Body Grief. Jayne has become a leading voice in disability advocacy.
She has been featured on NBC News, Apartment Therapy, Pushing Forward Podcast, Business Insider, and more.
Jayne's motivational and hopeful journey as a
newly disabled woman and chronically ill woman speaks to the body
grief we all experience -- from puberty to menopause to
infertility, pregnancy loss, gender dysphoria, disability and
chronic illness, to injury, food allergies and more -- and teaches
us how to cope, heal, and ultimately better understand our feelings
around our bodies. From feelings of anger and betrayal to a place
where gratitude can exist alongside grief.
Key Points
• Body grief is a universal experience.
• Disabilities come with discrimination and empathy.
• Marriage transforms with illness onset.
• Surrendering aids acceptance of physical changes.
• Coping mechanisms are essential for growth.
Best Quotes
02:09 - 02:22
• "And so then I was, you know, helping people work through their eating disorders. And I also went to school and, you know, specialized in eating disorders and body image, but also specialized in grief."
03:21 - 03:33
• "I lost my sight completely, like went blind and the lower half of my body stopped working. And you know, long story short, I was diagnosed with intracranial hypertension."
04:10 - 04:19
• "I can't do, my body can't do anymore. How am I supposed to love my body now? And that's when I really realized like, this is body grief."
05:59 - 06:07
• "It's not just a disability issue. It's not just a female issue, a woman issue. It is an everybody issue, and there's no hierarchy to suffering."
11:44 - 11:54
• "I've looked, I looked at him before we got engaged and I was like, you can leave. Like, you don't have to stay with me. And he was like, why would I do that? Like, I love you."