For many artists, legitimacy is imagined as a single moment, when someone finally says, “you’re in.” This episode follows emerging indie pop artist Laura Ulmer as she confronts the music industry gate keeping, able-ism, and internalized self-doubt that kept her hovering on the fringes, despite her ever-growing talent and repertoire. Alongside music publicist Eric Alper, we ask who really gets to decide when an artist is “real,” and what changes when you stop waiting for permission from an industry that rarely expects artists with disabilities to succeed.