Speaking event - Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week with the Rick Hansen Foundation School Program

This Wednesday, I’ll be speaking to 500 grade 9/10 and 11/12 students at a high school in North York about disability inclusion, language, identity and my own stories, as part of the Rick Hansen Foundation School Program!

I’m especially happy to be there for Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week (Nov 16-22), to share how when we listen to other people’s experiences, it helps us understand them, and through understanding people, we can help reduce bullying.​

Excited to be one of the new School Program Ambassadors for the 2025-2026 school year, and for my first in-person ambassador presentation. Thank you to the team at the Rick Hansen Foundation for their support! 🎉✨

Day 6 of Invisible Disabilities Week: recap of my virtual keynote for The Co-operators

“This session is my YAY” - a screenshot of the Teams chat that was sent to me after my Invisible Disabilities Week talk for The Co-operators’ disability-focused ERG 🥹😂🥰

Was so thrilled to be the virtual keynote speaker yesterday for almost 200 employees across Canada, to talk about disability myths, biases and beliefs and to share the daily yay! Check out the feedback from my talk in my Instagram post here.

I’ve got a few bookings for the week of and week after International Day of Persons with Disabilities in December, but I still have lots of availability that week!

If you’re looking for a virtual or in-person keynote speaker on disability, resilience, belonging or joy, send a yay my way! ✨

Day 5 of Invisible Disabilities Week: my first time meeting someone with my disability in person!

If you’ve ever felt nobody understands what you’re going through, this is your sign we’re never as alone as we think we are.

That was a main reason I rarely talked about my muscle disability for over 30 years - I figured nobody would care or relate. Then, I connected with Carrie.

Carrie and I both have the same rare muscle disorder, have both worked in the arts and for music festivals, and both love sparkle (her @carrieccduk IG bio is “Invisible Disability | Visible Sparkle” and I WISH I’d thought of that myself!) - I’m pretty sure that makes her my doppleganger somehow?! ✨

She reached out to me in January and we realized we have SO much in common. I was in the UK in August for my cousin’s wedding, and we met up during my 2.5-day trip to London - my first time meeting someone with my disability in person! Check out this reel on my Instagram for how our first meeting went.

I’m now so positive that your Carrie is out there too - you just need to share your experiences and what you’re going through, or at least look for people sharing theirs. Let me know when you find them! 💃🏽✨🫶🏽

Thanks to @thedanshaikh for being our personal cameraman and creative director 😂🥰💖

Check out the 13 Canadian buildings and monuments I’ve gotten to light up for Invisible Disabilities Week

We’re two weeks away from Invisible Disabilities Week, and I’m so excited to have gotten 13 buildings/monuments across ten Canadian cities lighting up to bring awareness to invisible disabilities! 🎉

This is the third Invisible Disabilities Week that I’ve been ✨open✨ about the rare muscle disorder I was born with, Central Core Disease.

For my first IDW in 2023, I was floored to be named the winner of the “But You LOOK Good” Inspiration Award by the Invisible Disabilities Association (floored because the past winners include comedian Wayne Brady and TV personality Yolanda Hadid!).

In 2024 for my second IDW, I did an interview with Mississauga News for an article on a report that the cost of living in Mississauga for people with disabilities is up to 39% higher than for those without disabilities, and did my first corporate talk for Arc’teryx’ disability-focused ERG.

This year, I’m doing another interview and corporate talk (more on those later), and I’ve been encouraging cities to light up to bring awareness to the invisible disabilities community.

An estimated up to 80% of disabilities are invisible/non-apparent, making it easier for them to be ignored or not supported by others, and harder for those living with them to advocate for themselves.

To me, Invisible Disabilities Week is about creating visibility and community for those living with them, and to encourage others to share their stories and experiences.

Because every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place. ✨

Check out the list of locations and dates of the lightings below!

• Apron Tower - Toronto Pearson Airport - Oct 19

• Clock Tower - Mississauga Civic Centre - Oct 19

• Niagara sign - Niagara Region - Oct 19

• Clock Tower - Brampton City Hall - Oct 19

• City Hall - Peterborough City Hall - Oct 19

• Vaughan City Hall - City of Vaughan - Oct 20

• Oakville Town Hall - Town of Oakville - Oct 20

• Moncton City Hall, New Brunswick - Oct 20

• Downtown Place - Moncton, New Brunswick - Oct 20

• Avenir Centre - Moncton, New Brunswick - Oct 20

• Downing Street - Moncton, New Brunswick - Oct 20

• Fred A. Lundy Bridge - Town of Newmarket - Oct 21 

• Hamilton sign - City of Hamilton - Oct 22