Lessons from The Boss

Well, captain said to John Henry,
“What is that storm I hear?”
John Henry said, “That ain’t no storm
Captain, that’s just my hammer in the air, Lord, Lord
That’s just my hammer in the air” Bruce Springsteen Sessions Version

Driving late at night coming home from a long trip provides me with time to multitask, think and listen to music. Last night returning from Boston, I was reflecting on Our Ability. We are doing all I can expect in the first year in business. Our mission of inspiring and mentoring people to Employment seems to be gaining recognition. We are producing videos on a hired basis, as well as our own stories. It doesn’t always seem like we are growing fast enough.

In small business you are looking for the magic wand to expand faster. John Henry came on and Bruce Springsteen reminded me all I have is a hammer. A voice to keep the mission alive and growing… What’s the storm comin’ – Our Ability. More jobs, education and equality for all including people with disabilities…

My day at Kessler Foundation

I have fond memories of Kessler.  As a child, my father would drive me to the Kessler Institute near East Orange, New Jersey, every six months to be fitted for prosthesis.  It brings up memories good and bad.  I had to have plaster casts made of my limbs each time, which included sawing off of the cast. I hated the saw – think dentist drill time 10!

My dad would always stop at Howard Johnson’s on the way and we had Pistachio Ice Cream – hah!  I went to my first Yankee game at Yankee Stadium on one trip in September 1978 – yes the same 1978 when the Yankees came back from a 14.5 game deficit in July.  Reggie Jackson and Lou Pinella hit back-to-back HR’s that night against Milwaukee! Take that bad memory.

Today, I love Kessler.  They support Our Ability – yes and I am forever grateful.  They changed my life, yes.  But, it is the wonderful work they are doing today with traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury and various other disability related supportive services including employment.

I was honored to speak to the employees of Kessler Foundation last week.  I had a wonderful time.  Thank you, again and keep up the great work.

Big Apple and Diversity

I had a wonderful day yesterday traveling to New York and meeting with new friends. I had the opportunity to travel and discuss diversity and disability with The New York Times advertising director for recruitment specializing in diversity Mark Szollar. You can tell, Mark is one of those great “connectors” of people and ideas! I met the NY Times Chief Diversity Officer as well. I was blessed to travel with Laura Dehmer of the Albany Colonie Chamber of Commerce, who so kindly introduced us.
We discussed ways to expand the conversation about diversity/inclusion and including disability employment opportunities. We each have other people we want to introduce to one another to expand our reach. Only by growing the conversation, can we advance the employment and education opportunities for all.
As someone in media for 20+ years, what a treat to talk diversity in the media capital of the world. We talked sports, too! I am truly honored.
Our Ability is continuing to look for ways to enhance the conversation about disability employment and education in the United States, and the Times can be a great partner.

Quack

I had the opportunity to speak in front of 300 Aflac sales professionals in Eastern Pennsylvania last week.  What a great time!

I enjoy speaking, but really enjoy connecting with sales people.  It is always fun to share perseverance and achievement with people who believe in themselves.  It was my 10th Aflac talk in the past two years and look forward to many more.  

Special thank you to Matthew Berger for inviting me again! Matt is one of my biggest supporters with Get Off Your Knees / Our Ability.

~Love the Duck!

Aflac testimonial video here…

 

A Lannister always pays his debts…so did Peter Dinklage – great job!

I am not sure if there is a cooler character in novels, today. I know there isn’t one I enjoy following the trials and tribulations more in reading. George RR Martin’s Tyrion Lannister is a great character! Not good, great!
I was referred to Game of Thrones by my friend Anthony. A few years ago he said I would really enjoy two series he read, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld (specifically Sam Vimes and Moist von Lipwig) and Game of Thrones.
Wow – both have been great reads!
As I was picking up Game of Thrones after my full year indulgence with Discworld – I got lost in the story. Winter is coming – indeed!
Anthony knew I would love Tyrion. I didn’t at first; I couldn’t see past the obnoxious attitude. Ha (Look in the mirror much?). But, I saw the truth. I love how Tyrion is always in control, a master in business, uses his differences to his advantage, self-deprecating and has a great love of life!
Last year, when the HBO series was launching I didn’t want to watch. How could they cast Tyrion?
Thankfully, they were casting an actual little person in the role. If it were another disability, Hollywood would have cast an able bodied person to play the part. I digress…
Peter Dinklage became Tyrion for me, like no other book character. I love Martin’s saga – with the multiple characters with bodied challenges. Tyrion’s romp with life is the best of the bunch, and Dinklage plays it magically.
Great job Martin for writing the character, HBO with casting, Dinklage for executing and the Golden Globes for acknowledging.
Now, maybe Hollywood will cast more actual people with disabilities in roles in the future.

Spring, speaking enagagements and travel

I get asked all the time how much do I like to travel? Do I find travel easy or hard?

I look forward to getting out on the road when I am asked to speak about “Get Off Your Knees” “Overcoming Obstacles with a Disability” or “Why Be Normal.” In the next three months, I am traveling from Philadelphia to San Jose to Rochester to San Juan PR! I look forward to each group I will meet.

Travel is always interesting. Each airport is an accommodation challenge. How far is the walk to and from the gate? Are there moving sidewalks?

Are the bathrooms accessible enough for me to use or do I need to bring my step stool on to the airplane.

One of my biggest challenges is Chicago. One airport puts plastic covering on the toilet seats which I try and balance myself on! What a challenge. Some day the airport CSI will find me head first in the toilet because of the plastic.

As I travel in the next three months, I will take pictures and video of the accommodations, sites, people and the overall challenges I face as a traveler with a disability. Hopefully giving engineers and building managers something to think about as they design the airports, restaurants and hotels of the future.

If you have travel updates, photos or videos – please share with us. Just fill out the connect page at ourability.com

Guest Blogger – Faizan Sheikh

Life, luck or choice?
Life, what’s the purpose of it? Is it just to arrive to this beautiful planet earth, live routinely, work hard, pay bills and then return to wherever we came from? Or does life has more meaning than that? Do you just want to live hand to mouth and yes I mean working at an awesome place, making a lot of money and spending it all in shopping malls and just keep paying bills every month – that’s what I call living hand to mouth. What will be your legacy? Yours left over money for your kids? Your ancestry or can it be you and your awesome work for this world? Imagine your own marks left behind you where everyone remembers how small or big of a difference you made in their life. So have you made a choice? – A choice to make a difference or a choice to live just like every other person next to you?
But then sometimes it is your luck, you make a choice but your luck has written something differently in your faith. In 2009, when I lost my job at Wall Street, I decided to become a film maker. Now I think it may be it was my boss’s choice to let me go or my faith to do something differently. I almost gave up several times during my 3 years of film making journey, since then, but I had make a choice, and my faith with all the positive support I was getting from my surroundings took me to finish my first short film, “My Angel My Hero”. This film is about hope, inspiration, not giving up and most importantly a film campaign against Parkinson’s disease and how dance can help these Parkinson’s patients.
Still it wasn’t easy, everyday was a struggle, it was my choice to stick to the plan, but then plan changed as written in my faith. But I didn’t give up and kept it going until he can inspire many people around me. Now as this film has become an online video campaign, where several patients are chipping in by submitting their videos testimonial of what had inspired them all this time against Parkinson’s. That is the way they make a different in other’s life. I do not feel I am the captain of this boat, and am still unsure if it is my choice to make a difference or my faith to change the world? So what is yours?

Enough of the Freak Show Oprah, it’s Time for Education

So much for celebrating difference, it’s the circus all over again! History repeats itself. You would think I would’ve learned. It’s my fault for believing in something better. “Step right up and see the bearded lady, lizard skinned boy…” Enough already!

Recently, I wrote a blog mentioning Zach Anner’s new OWN program. About time we have a national program – right? I agree, but…come on. Do we have to propagate the “freak-show stereotype!”

There is no other diversity group that would allow this discourse. Come look at Zach on the zip-line, rollercoaster (have I got a rollercoaster story for you), kayak, etc. Stare at Zach! How about Doug running a company, Jayne landing the big comedy headline, or John successfully producing a video?

For hundreds of years we have been trying to get people not to look at us as abnormal freak shows, but people with offerings in education and employment. There are a million veterans coming into the workforce looking for employment with an estimated 30-50% with disabilities. Why not a program of real people with disabilities – one of the 6.6 million employed with a disability according to a Cornell study – to inspire those million new candidates?

If you watch TV today, you still get the Little People with the family conflict, or Zach. You do not get the education, family or business.

It really pisses me off. I have kids looking up to me with what I do and want answers about there own lives. How will I make it in business? They aren’t asking how can I get more people to stare at me! Come on…

From Oprah Winfrey of all people – Oprah an Entrepreneur/Entertainer/CEO who has advanced women in media and in business more than any other person, Oprah who helped advance America beyond skin color in the last election – has a program mocking disability and propagating the “freak show!”

We at Our Ability understand the need to balance entertainment and education. No one wants to watch a classroom lecture about any subject on television. But, there is a balance. There has to be better than mocking people with disabilities. This is a time of great change when there are more people with disabilities who served our country in Iraq/Afghanistan. There are more and more children born with Autism with parents wondering their children’s fate. We can inspire rather than destroy.

Recently, we spoke to someone inside PBS about an Our Ability program, and they had an interesting response. They said they were not sure if it fit within their funded programming mission. I asked if it isn’t about educating people about differences, then what is? I guess even PBS is looking at an OWN and TLC model.

I went to a college football game with my family in the recent past. I was walking in the crowd towards my car and noticed people staring as they always do, but this felt different. A young man was videotaping me with his cell phone. He thought I was funny enough to share with his friends for amusement. It’s great to be entertained, but even better to be educated about diversity. Instead of continuing to produce programs that contribute to the “dumbing down of America,” let us all ask for more. Unfortunately, I do not think it will happen.

The Bad (and Good) of Television’s The Good Wife

I am a big fan of The Good Wife!  I love Alicia, Will and the gang.  I especially like Michael J. Fox, using his disability in his character – we need more of this! But, it reminds me how much we are missing.

Recently, we see on OWN a program about a young man Zach Anner hosting a traveling program – in the trailer he is kayaking, zip-lining, going on the Price is Right, etc.  It is wonderful there is a program with a Person with a Disability. But, it is equally appalling! What is the message to children with dramatic differences? Unless you can become a public “freak show” there is no value to society? It’s entertaining, but not inspirational to People with Disabilities.  I am proud of Zach, not of OWN!

For a long time, I have been urging Oprah’s Network, NBC or Current TV to promote real stories about People with Disabilities.  Business, entrepreneurship, education – not I can climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. While that is cool, how does that help promote an inclusive image for society.  

Good for The Good Wife – using Mr. Fox and openly discussing but not solely focusing on his character’s disability.  It’s also great that his character is not a saint – just a man with good and bad traits, like all of us.  This is Hollywood/NYC progress. 

In the 12/11 episode – we had a big whoops through, Alicia went to pick up Kalinda from jail and she parked in a clearly marked Handicapped/Wheelchair spot.  For all to see in High Definition!  Oh, well.

I get really angry as a video production company and advocacy group when I see double standards.  I have been contacting some businesses, organizations and other content providers recently that promote products and services for People with Disabilities. We are promoting the production of real stories of People with Disabilities by Our Ability – production company made up of mostly People with Disabilities.  We produce video, we advocate – we cannot bungee jump.  I ask if their videographers/marketers/actors/hosts also have a disability and most of the time, they will not answer. I hear nothing.  There is my answer.

There are many, many companies selling products and services not using vendors and people with actual disabilities in their marketing.  There are too many programs promoting themselves as pro-inclusion using able-bodies actors in other challenged roles.  It is awful. It is amazing to me the double standards when it comes to media, media production and entertainment.

 

The Marshmallow