Linda Kay Klein on Purity Culture, Ableism & Healing from Religious Shame

Linda Kay Klein on Purity Culture, Ableism & Healing from Religious Shame

What happens when purity culture collides with disability, identity, and real life?

In this powerful episode of the Wheel With It Podcast, Devon sits down with author and purity culture recovery coach Linda Kay Klein for an honest conversation about growing up in evangelical purity culture — and how its rigid rules around gender, sexuality, and bodies continue to harm people long after they leave the church.

Linda shares deeply personal stories about her journey out of purity culture, the lasting effects of religious shame, and how her late brother’s experience with cerebral palsy exposed the ableism baked into these systems. Together, Devon and Linda explore:

• How purity culture shapes self-worth and relationships

• The intersection of disability and sexuality

• Inspiration porn, infantilization, and being erased

• Why disabled people are so often desexualized — or hypersexualized

• Reclaiming your voice after spiritual trauma

• What healing actually looks like after religious control

This episode is raw, thoughtful, and ultimately hopeful — centered on advocacy, dignity, and learning to thrive beyond survival.

🎧 Topics include: purity culture, ableism, disability rights, religious trauma, advocacy, self-worth, and reclaiming identity.

Follow Wheel With It for more conversations at the intersection of disability, policy, culture, and lived experience.

Connect with Linda:

https://linktr.ee/LindaKayKlein

Connect with Devon/ the show:

https://linktr.ee/wheelwithitpod

00:00 Growing Up in Evangelical Purity Culture

02:00 What Purity Culture Teaches About Gender & Bodies

04:40 Leaving the Church — But Not the Shame

07:50 Linda’s Brother, Disability & Ableism

11:00 Desexualization & Hypersexualization of Disabled People

15:10 Purity Culture’s Broken Promises

18:50 Deconstructing Faith, Identity & Self-Worth

23:30 Inspiration Porn & Being Seen as “Hero or Worthless”

30:00 Living Between Perfection and Invisibility

36:40 Reclaiming Your Voice After Spiritual Trauma

42:00 Advocacy, Healing & Learning to Thrive

48:00 Final Thoughts + Where to Find Linda