Category: Living with Disability

In recent days, the topic of sexual assault has dominated the news cycle. What few realize, is that people with disabilities are far more likely to be sexually assaulted than people without disabilities. In fact, a recent report on NPR’s “All Things Considered” found that “people with intellectual disabilities — women and men — are the victims of sexual assaults at rates more than seven times those for people without disabilities.” Likewise, “Not on the Radar,” a new report by the National Council on Disability found that “nearly one in three disabled undergraduate women experience sexual violence.”

For a variety of reasons, people with disabilities can be more vulnerable to sexual predators than others. Some people with disabilities are turning to self-defense training or martial arts to protect themselves.

According to Advanced Martial Arts Connect (AMAC), a website for all things martial arts-related, martial arts styles such as taekwando, judo, karate and others can be useful to individuals with a variety of special needs. For example, says AMAC, the American Taekwando Association has partnered with Autism Speaks to educate instructors about best practices in working with individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

AMAC also recommends martial arts to students with Down syndrome who “tend to have some degree of cognitive and muscle impairment.” Says AMAC: The strength and coordination training that martial arts offers is “invaluable” to individuals with Down syndrome.

Blind people can benefit from martial arts training as well. “Blindness martial arts — Judo especially — are not heavily dependent on sight because they are not typical contact sports,” says AMAC. “In Judo, the experts usually practice blindfolded to improve their reflexes and strengthen their other senses. Karate also is easily adaptable to blindness.”

Those with movement disabilities such as paralysis, multiple sclerosis and other syndromes that cause severe mobility challenges, can also gain helpful self-defense skills through martial arts.

“As well as being therapeutic, martial arts help with confidence and self-defense, both of which can be useful when an assailant targets a disabled person for being a stereotypically easy target,” says AMAC.

The Adaptive Martial Arts Association serves as a clearinghouse for people seeking adaptive martial arts classes, instructors and resources. The organization also offers a school outreach program that helps to match students with disabilities to adaptive martial arts programs in their areas. They even provide free martial arts uniforms and tuition assistance to those who qualify.

Founded by Jason “The Animal” Davis, the association was a response to Davis’ experiences as a youngster with cerebral palsy. When he was 8 years old, Davis was turned away from a martial arts training course because of his CP. But his desire to pursue martial arts remained.

At 31, Davis reached out to a friend who was a martial artist and agreed to train him. The duo set out to adapt a martial arts curriculum for people with disabilities.

“The first few weeks both student and teacher wondered if it would work,” Davis recalled. “But then the physical and mental changes began to appear. When medical doctors and therapists noticed the difference, it was apparent that martial arts training was working in ways both never expected.”

To find a class and trained instructor near you, visit the Adaptive Martial Arts Association.

Starbucks will open store for deaf and hard of hearing customers this fall.

As part of the company’s commitment to “inclusion, accessibility and diversity,” Starbucks announced last week that it will soon open its first “signing store” in the U.S. According to a July 19, 2018 press release, the café will employ “Twenty to 25 deaf, hard of hearing and hearing partners from across the country.” It will be located in Washington D.C. at 6th & H Street near Gallaudet University, a federally chartered university for deaf and hard of hearing students. All employees will be proficient in American Sign Language so that they will be able to serve the store’s many deaf and hard of hearing customers.

“The National Association of the Deaf applauds Starbucks for opening a signing store that employs deaf and hard of hearing people,” said Howard A. Rosenblum, CEO of the National Association of the Deaf. “Starbucks has taken an innovative approach to incorporating deaf culture that will increase employment opportunities as well as accessibility for deaf and hard of hearing people, while at the same time educating and enlightening society.”

This is the second signing store that Starbucks has opened. The first opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2016. In addition to employing deaf and hard of hearing partners, the Washington D.C. store will showcase artwork and sell a custom mug designed by a deaf artist.  Baristas will wear aprons embroidered with ASL while hearing employees will wear pins that say “I sign.”

Could this be a trend for other businesses? Enabling Devices hopes so!

Meanwhile, we’re doing our part to make life more accessible for people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing as well as those with other communication challenges by creating and adapting toys and other products. Some of our most popular include:

Visually and Hearing Impaired Activity Center (#540)
The specially designed activity center enables individuals who are visually or hearing impaired to experience the joy of play. Includes a soft cloth that spins when the player presses a bright yellow plate, a bright blue plate that vibrates, and a fan.

Vibrating Personal Pager (#8001A) and MotivAider (#1153)
Ideal for hearing and hearing impaired users alike, these adapted pagers vibrate to either notify the user or to notify others.

Language Facilitator (#5310)
Promote functional communication! This two-switch communicator provides users with the visual and auditory feedback they need to begin forming and producing utterances and words.

Classroom Communication Kit (#9037)
In consultation with special educators, speech therapists, and assistive technologists, we’ve assembled this carefully curated kit of communication devices.

 

One of summer’s great pleasures is the opportunity it often provides to catch up on one’s reading. If you or your kids are in the market for some book recommendations, Enabling Devices can help. In this week’s blogpost, we share some of the year’s best books on disability.

For Young Children:

“The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Temple Grandin”

By Julie Finley Mosca, Illustrated by Daniel Rieley (The Innovation Press, 2017), hardcover, 40 pages, $11.09

A Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award Recipient, this book for children grades K- 5, tells the amazing story of Temple Grandin. Diagnosed with autism at an early age, and at a time when little was known about the condition, Grandin went on to become a renowned animal psychologist who designed animal husbandry techniques that led to more humane treatment of animals. Grandin is also a respected spokeswoman for the autism community. Rhyming verse and colorful cartoon illustrations make this biography easily accessible for young students.

 For Middle School-aged Children:

“Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess”

By Shari Green (Pajama Press, 2017), paperback, 240 pages, $9.56

Winner of the 2018 Schneider Family Book Award in its Middle Grades category, this book tells the story of 6^th grader Macy McMillan, who is deaf, and her transformational friendship with an 86-year-old neighbor.

 For Teens and Young Adults:

“Queens of Geek”

By Jen Wilde (Swoon Reads, 2017), paperback 288 pages, $8.79

This young adult novel explores the world of sci-fi and fantasy fan conventions, through the friendship of two high school seniors from Australia — one with autism and one who’s bisexual. According to Teen Vogue, “The book deals head on with issues of mental health, body shaming, sexuality and internet celebrity, handling them with a delicate and skillful touch.”

Adult Fiction:

“The Color of Bee Larkham’s Murder: A Novel”

By Sarah J. Harris, (Touchstone, 2018), hardcover, 368 pages, $26

Often compared to Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” Harris’ debut adult novel tells the story of a 13-year-old boy named Jasper with synesthesia, a rare neurological condition that makes him see colors when he hears sounds. Publisher’s Weekly calls this suspenseful mystery, ‘sparkling” and “fantastic!”

Adult Nonfiction:

“Navigating the Transition From High School to College for Students with Disabilities”

By Meg Grigal, Joseph Madaus, Lyman Dukes III and Debra Hart  (Routledge, 2018), paperback, 224 pages, $39.95

Transitioning from high school to college is challenging for all students, but especially for students with disabilities. This new text provides strategies, options, resources and activities to help streamline the process and help students to be more successful.

As multiple studies have shown, hiring individuals with disabilities is more than a moral imperative. It’s also good business. These individuals are typically hard-working, loyal, extremely productive, solution-oriented, and go a long way toward improving employee morale and company culture. In spite of all this, people with disabilities are far more likely than their non-disabled peers to be under-employed or unemployed. According to a June 2017 press release from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, “In 2016, 17.9 percent of persons with a disability were employed. … In contrast, the employment-population ratio for those without a disability was 65.3 percent.”

Thankfully, some corporations are taking steps to change the status quo. One such corporation is CVS Health, the largest pharmacy health care provider in the United States.

Through a collaboration with the National Consortium of State-Operated Comprehensive Rehabilitation Centers, CVS has opened “mock stores” where people with disabilities can receive hands-on training that prepares them to work in actual CVS stores.

CVS affirmed its commitment to inclusive employment practices in a Nov. 2017 press release which described plans to open eight mock stores by spring 2018: “Individuals with disabilities receive classroom and hands-on training in life and job skills such as providing customer service, stocking shelves and working at the cash register,” said the release. “Each center is installed with mock equipment and participants work closely with trained staff to learn about the roles and responsibilities of front store and pharmacy technician positions. Individuals who complete the program qualify to apply for a position at CVS Pharmacy.”

Said David Casey, Vice president, Workforce Strategies and Chief Diversity Officer, CVS Health: “CVS Health is focused on breaking down the employment barriers that individuals with disabilities face, which these facilities help to achieve. … We are proud to be working with the NCSOCRC to help people with disabilities access the security and prosperity that stable jobs can provide.”

Currently, mock stores are operating in locations across the country including Baltimore Maryland, Lowell Massachusetts, Johnstown Pennsylvania, Hot Springs Arkansas, Fisherville Virginia, Riverside California and Brooklyn New York.

Virginian, Kaylee Merrick, graduated from the CVS training program in 2016. Currently, she’s employed by a CVS Pharmacy in Northern Virginia. “[The CVS training program) has open arms to anyone and they have a lot of patience. It’s always a joy to see [customers at my job] and interact with them, it’s been amazing!” she said.

It seems like a foregone conclusion — public transportation should be available to everyone. Yet, 28 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities and mandated they have equal access to public transportation, accessibility on city buses and public rail systems remains insufficient.

A 2017 study, “Public Transportation: An Investigation of Barriers for People With Disabilities” published in the Journal of Disability Policy Studies, found that despite improvements in public transit “significant barriers to overall access of public transportation systems are still widespread.”

Barriers to public transportation are more than inconvenient. They have major implications for people with disabilities’ prospects for employment, education, healthcare, socialization and independence. In fact, a 2012 report by The American Association of People with Disabilities and The Leadership Conference Education Fund found that inadequate public transportation options cause many people with disabilities to be homebound. According to the report, “Of the nearly 2 million people with disabilities who never leave their homes, 560,000 never leave home because of transportation difficulties.”

Happily, a recent improvement to Google Maps has made travel a little bit easier for people who use wheelchairs to get around. On March 15, 2018, Google posted the following message on its blog site, “The Key Word.”

“To make public transit work for everyone, today we’re introducing “wheelchair accessible” routes in transit navigation to make getting around easier for those with mobility needs.”

The new feature launched in London, New York, Tokyo, Mexico City, Boston, and Sydney on March 15, but Google hopes to make it available to other cities in the coming months.

In order to gather information about accessible routes, Google assembled 200 meet-ups around the globe. At the meet-ups, local guides (Google content contributors) provided feedback on accessibility on more than 12 million locations. Google says it is also in the process of “capturing and updating street view imagery of transit stations and city centers so people can preview a place or transit station ahead of time.”

To use Google Maps’ wheelchair accessible routes feature:

“Type your desired destination into Google Maps. Tap “Directions” then select the public transportation icon. Then tap “Options” and under the Routes section, you’ll find “wheelchair accessible” as a new route type. When you select this option, Google Maps will show you a list of possible routes that take mobility needs into consideration.”

Happy travels!

For more than 30 years, Enabling Devices has been creating exceptional products that help people with disabilities engage more actively and more joyfully in the world. At long last, other businesses and cultural institutions are catching on.

For example, a new exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum  in New York City features 70 works that make everyday activities more accessible to people with disabilities. “Access + Ability” on display from Dec. 15, 2017 – Sept. 3, 2018 is part of a major effort on the part of the museum to make the institution and its exhibitions more inclusive and accessible to visitors of all abilities.

According to director of the Cooper Hewitt, Caroline Baumann, “The diversity of works on view in ‘Access+Ability’ embrace the latest developments in digital technologies and fabrication methods, along with a user-driven focus on enhancing what people can do when given the opportunity.”

The hands-on, interactive exhibition is divided into three sections — moving, connecting and living — and contains everything from adaptive clothing, utensils, eye-controlled speech-generating devices, apps for children with autism, “smart canes,” shoes for people with fine motor challenges, wearable navigation systems, bejeweled hearing aids and much more.

Highlights of the exhibition include a racing wheelchair designed in 2016, a prototype for an inclusive voting booth that will be put into use in 2020, fashionable prosthetic leg covers, a watch “that uses haptic vibration technology to allow users with tremors to regain the use of their hand,” and a shirt, “embedded with 16 sensors corresponding to each part of the orchestra—strings, woodwinds, percussion, etc.” that allows deaf people to “feel” music through tactile sensations.

In order to select the most useful, and most innovative objects for inclusion in the exhibition, co-curators Cara McCarty and Rochelle Steiner consulted with people with disabilities, their caregivers, therapists, scientists and designers.

Exhibition designers took care to make the exhibition itself accessible to visitors with disabilities by installing Blindways, an app designed and developed by Perkins School for the Blind, eye-tracking speech-generating devices and accessibility apps by Apple that use Switch Control VoiceOver and voice-command software.

“Access+Ability” was developed in partnership with the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities. In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum will offer a series of programs that encourage dialogue about inclusive design.

For a complete list of all items in the exhibition, click here.

The statistics are sobering. According to a June 2017 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “in 2016, 17.9 percent of persons with a disability were employed. In contrast, the employment-population ratio for those without a disability was 65.3 percent.” Though the 2016 figure was up 0.4 percent from 2015, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities in the U.S. remains a critical issue. In response, some parents of young adults with disabilities are taking matters into their own hands by starting businesses that will employ their children.

One example of such a business is Sam’s Canterbury Café in Baltimore, Md. When Sam Myers, a young man with autism reached his teens, his parents began thinking of starting a business where he could be gainfully employed. After Sam underwent a battery of tests, and interned in a variety of work environments, it became clear that he would thrive best in a café/restaurant. Now open for a year, Sam’s Café employs Sam as well as five other adults with autism who work in a variety of roles at the café. Sam’s father Michael Myers says it’s rewarding to see his son looking forward to going to work and he’s pleased by the way the surrounding community has embraced the business.

Long Island N.Y’s Cause Café has a similar mission. Founded in 2016, by Stacey Wohl, a mother of two young adults with autism, the café is co-owned by her children Logan and Brittney and employs 8 other adults with autism spectrum disorders. According to the café’s website, Wohl started the café in 2012 “in response to the growing concern for special-needs individuals on Long Island who are aging out of schools to find job opportunities and a learning environment to acquire real-life skills.”

Likewise, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee in Wilmington, N.C. was founded by Amy Wright, the mother of two adults with Down syndrome. The establishment also hired many other young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who help run the coffee shop. As Wright told health blog “The Mighty,” she hopes to open more locations and “would love Wilmington to be a model (that) integrate(s) people with disabilities into the workforce.” On Dec. 20, 2017, Wright won CNN’s Hero of the Year competition for her advocacy on behalf of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

But businesses started as meaningful workplaces for adults with autism aren’t limited to coffee shops. Spurred on by their son Himal’s talent for painting, Virginians Harish and Saket Bikmal started Zenaviv, a website where artists with special needs can market their work. According to Woman’s Day, “Currently, there are seven artists who earn 60 percent of their art’s proceeds; Harish plans to have 25 involved by the year’s end.”

Of course, not all parents of adults with disabilities have the resources to start their own businesses. Sometimes, opportunities for meaningful employment for people with disabilities can be found in unexpected places. Friendship Circle blogger Tzvi Schectman advises parents to explore possibilities for jobs on farms and ranches. “There are dozens of farms currently in the United States that offer programs and employment opportunities for individuals with special needs,” says Schectman. Jobs on farms and ranches can be good options for people with disabilities, he says, because farms and ranches are typically “slower paced and more relaxing,” offer workers training in a variety of vocational skills and can even “offer a perfect opportunity to create a sustainable business for individuals with special needs by selling their produce in the local markets.”

In our recent Halloween blog, we shared ideas for incorporating kids’ wheelchairs into their Halloween costumes. But what if wheelchairs could be outlets for creativity and self-expression all 365 days a year? As it happens, many companies now produce unique and beautiful accessories that allow wheelchair users to personalize their rides. We scoured the internet to find examples of some of the most stylish and innovative wheelchair designs and paraphernalia out there. Here’s what we came up with:

Izzy Wheels
“If you can’t stand up, stand out.” That’s the tagline for Isabel and Ailbhe Keane’s new company, Izzy Wheels. As an art student at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland, Ailbhe Keane wanted to create stylish, colorful and unique removable wheel covers that would help her sister Isabel, who has used a wheelchair all her life, to make her wheelchair a fashion statement. The sisters say the company’s mission is “to challenge negative associations with wheelchairs and let users celebrate their individuality by personalizing their source of independence.”  Ailbhe and Isabel “want to show the world that wheelchairs can be so much more than a medical device, they can be a piece of artistic expression.” Izzy Wheels covers are designed by fine artists and graphic designers. Some wheelchair users have more than one set of wheel covers, so they can coordinate their covers with their outfits. Check out the online store. You won’t believe the array of options. For more information, visit izzywheels.com.

Pimp My Chair
Named for the popular TV series, “Pimp My Ride,” this company, started by the mother of a son who uses a wheelchair, sells a variety of wheelchair accessories that help users to be safer, more comfortable and more stylish. Products include personalized seat covers, padded gloves, wheels with multicolored LED lights, and spoke lights that attach to wheelchair spokes.

HDS Medallion wheelchair bags
This company designs gorgeous bags especially designed to attach to wheelchairs, walkers, powerchairs and scooters. HDS also sells two styles of basic black bags —one with a zipper closure and one with Velcro closure. Users can choose from a large number of carrying straps that accommodate their individual styles and preferences. Buy more than one to match your strap with your mood or outfit.

Side by Side Wheelchair Handle Extension
For her senior project, Israeli designer Tammy Kalinsky developed the Side by Side, a wheelchair accessory that enables side by side conversation between a wheelchair user and the person who pushes the wheelchair. It’s difficult to carry on a conversation when walking behind a companion who’s sitting in a wheelchair. The Side by side, a simple bar that connects to the side of the wheelchair makes it possible for the wheelchair pusher to walk beside the wheelchair user. According to Kalinsky’s website, the Side by Side is currently pending patent.

PYC
UK-based company PYC sells sleek, stylish wheelchair bags, straps, backrests and guards made of Cordura, an extremely durable material that’s colorfast, water-resistant and reasonably priced.

A year has passed since we last surveyed some of the newest books on topics related to disabilities. As the weather warms, and many of us look forward to reading by the pool, on the porch, or while on summer vacations, we’ve compiled a list of five notable books published or released in paperback or E-book within the past year.

“Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter” by Kate Clifford Larson

Being a Kennedy has always meant being in the public eye. Yet, due to the intellectual and physical disabilities she sustained during her birth, Rosemary Kennedy, the third child of Joe and Rose Kennedy, was kept out of the limelight. In this 2015 biography, now available in paperback, Kate Clifford Larson explores Rosemary’s tragic life.

Despite her vivacious personality and beauty, Rosemary’s parents were ashamed of her limitations and feared that the family’s image and social status would be diminished, if those outside the Kennedy clan knew about Rosemary’s disabilities. Thus, they pushed Rosemary beyond her capabilities, sent her away to schools and tried all sorts of questionable therapies including a traumatic and debilitating lobotomy in her 20s, in ill-fated attempts to “cure” her. In addition to providing a window into this fascinating family and its most vulnerable member, “Rosemary” is a sad and chilling reminder of the Eugenics Movement of the early 20th century which, “aimed at improving the genetic composition of the human race,” according to Genetics Generation.  “Historically, eugenicists advocated selective breeding to achieve these goals.” Fortunately, the movement was discredited in the U.S. after it became closely associated with Nazism. Having seen Rosemary suffer, her siblings and other Kennedy family members were influenced to promote the interests of people with disabilities through organizations such as the Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s Special Olympics, Anthony Shriver’s Best Buddies as well as legislation that benefited people with disabilities enacted by President John F. Kennedy.

“Pointing Is Rude: One Father’s Story of Autism, Adoption, and Acceptance” by Digger O’Brien

Prior to writing this heart-felt memoir, Digger O’Brien was known as an Emmy Award-winning television producer. Now, the book he has written about his family’s experience coming to terms with his son’s autism diagnosis, and the trials and tribulations that have come along with it, has re-introduced him as a talented author and disabilities advocate. O’Brien’s dry wit, and willingness to tell his story honestly, without sugar-coating the hard times, make this book deeply relatable as well as inspiring.

“The Loving Push: How Parents and Professionals Can Help Spectrum Kids Become Successful Adults” by Debra Moore Ph.D. and Temple Grandin. Ph.D.

This highly reviewed book co-written by autism expert Debra Moore and Temple Grandin, the renowned professor of animal science, autism advocate and a person with autism, helps parents and professionals to find the right balance between pushing their young adult children and clients too hard and pushing them hard enough to achieve their potential.  Including research, case studies and easy-to-implement strategies, “The Loving Push” endeavors to give young adults on the spectrum the best chance for a successful and relatively independent future.

Cycle of Hope: A Journey from Paralysis to Possibility” by Tricia Downing

This memoir by competitive cyclist and first-time author Tricia Downing chronicles her journey back from a 2000 accident that left her a paralyzed from the chest down. This emotionally honest and tremendously inspiring story chronicles Downing’s journey from the devastating accident through her arduous rehabilitation to her gradual acceptance of her new life and identity as a woman with a disability and her return to athletics as a competitive wheelchair racer. “Cycle of Hope” will encourage those with and without disabilities to accept their challenges and pursue their dreams.

Notes on Blindness: A Journey Through the Dark by John M. Hull

The late John Hull’s memoir about his experiences coping with the gradual loss of his eye-sight is praised by authors and disabilities scholars from the late Oliver Sacks to author and psychiatrist Andrew Solomon. Adapted from audiotaped diaries Hull began to record about three years after becoming totally blind, this beautifully written memoir explores his path from loss and depression to his eventual acceptance of his disability and his embrace of a different, yet no less fulfilling way of life.

 

Here at Enabling Devices, we can’t think of a more enjoyable or powerful way to learn, than by watching a really fine TED Talk. For the uninitiated, “TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less).”

There are TED Talks on just about any topic you can imagine including all sorts of topics related to disabilities. TED Talks challenge viewers to reconsider their beliefs and assumptions and to discover new ways of thinking about nearly everything under the sun.

For your viewing pleasure, we’ve taken the liberty of curating a list of the best TED Talks from people living and thriving with disabilities.

1. In search of the man who broke my neck

At 19 years of age, Joshua Prager was hit by a truck driven by a man with 27 prior moving violations, while riding in a mini-bus in Jerusalem. The accident, left him with quadriplegia, and though he eventually regained the ability to walk, albeit with a limp and using a cane, his life was changed forever. Determined to win an apology from the man who caused his life-long disability, Prager returned to Jerusalem and gained some unexpected insights.

2. Deep sea diving in a wheelchair

When performance artist, Sue Austin got her first power wheelchair, she was thrilled by her newfound freedom. But she was surprised to find that others viewed the wheelchair through a different and decidedly negative lens. Even more puzzling,  Austin felt that once she began using a wheelchair, “people couldn’t see me anymore.” In time, Austin found that she began to see herself through their eyes. So Austin took action. She developed an arts practice and discovered that through the creative activities she pursued while in her wheelchair, Austin was able to “remake her identity and transform preconceptions …”

3. My twelve pairs of legs

Born without fibula bones, athlete, actress, model and advocate, Aimee Mullins had her lower legs amputated at the age on 1 year old. The disability didn’t stop her from becoming—among many other things— an internationally-known athlete, who is the first person without legs of either gender, to have competed against able-bodied people in NCAA Division I track and field events, to serve as iconic fashion designer, Alexander McQueen’s  muse, and to be voted one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People In the World. In this popular TED Talk, Mullins, displays her 12 separate pairs of legs, and shares how thanks to the combination of art and technology, people with disabilities can be the “architects of their own identities.”

4. I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much

Stella Young, an Australian comedian, journalist and disability rights activist who was born with a congenital bone disorder wants people without disabilities to know that she and other people with disabilities are no more inspirational or exceptional than anyone else. Her entertaining, yet meaningful TED Talk points out the ways in which “inspiration porn” objectifies people with disabilities to benefit people without them.

5. I got 99 problems …palsy is just one

Stand-up comedian, actress and disabilities advocate, Maysoon Zayid was born with cerebral palsy. As a woman who is Palestinian, Muslim and [she jokes], lives in New Jersey, Zayid says that she’s got lots of issues beyond her disability to contend with. In this humorous, and upbeat TED Talk, Zayid shares how her parents’ determination that she would do everything her three non-disabled sisters did helped her to overcome many of the obstacles she faced. Zayid hopes that through her comedy and social action, she can help to create a more positive image of disability.