The Yay Team hit our IDA Walk and Roll step and funding goals!

Saturday was the last day of Mobility Awareness Month and the numbers for the Invisible Disabilities Association Walk and Roll are in - SO happy to say that The Yay Team (aka my mom and I ☺️) both overshot our step goals AND our funding goal! 💃🏽

- I exceeded my step goal of 85,000 steps, rounding out at 85,520 steps in May🎉
- My mom exceeded her step goal of 100 km and walked 105 km 🥳
- I came in #3 in Participant Rank and my mom came in #2 (aka we raised the second- and third-most money!) 💰
- The Yay Team raised $1,021 USD, 102% of our $1,000 goal, and placed #2 for Team Rank and Unique Donors Rank 🙌🏽

Thank you to my mom for always being the best support, and to my boyfriend Dan for getting me out on a walk on Friday to make sure I got my steps in. And of course, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who donated! It was such a thrill to see every time, and to feel the support and motivation during what was generally a wildly busy month, made such a difference in keeping me going. I truly appreciate it and I’m so glad I was able to live up to what I’d committed to doing.

My third year of the fundraiser down, and I’m excited to say that across those three years, myself and The Yay Team have officially raised over $5,000 USD for the Invisible Disabilities Association! Now that’s definitely a daily yay 🥰💃🏽✨

New presentation for schools and youth: Everyday Ableism and How to Recognize It

When I was first asked to be a guest speaker at a workshop for high school students on ableism, the final workshop in a 4-part series on discrimination, the organizer said she wanted the students to be aware of ableist experiences in everyday life.

I had the idea to share some of the personal experiences of ableist comments I’ve gotten before and how I’ve felt internalized ableism, but thought “would I really have enough examples to make that work?”

Turns out the answer was yes 🙃 from “do you think your ex broke up with you because he thought you wouldn’t be able to keep a house clean?” from a family member, to “So laziness is a disability?” from a random internet man on YouTube, to somehow both wondering if I have “enough” of a disability AND feeling like someone without my disability might be better at my job last summer - let’s just say when I thought about it, the content was definitely there. 🥲

Yesterday I spoke to students at Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic Secondary School in Oshawa with my newest presentation, Everyday Ableism and How to Recognize It, for Red Shirt Day of Action for Accessibility and Inclusion. I got some beautiful comments in the student feedback, and I’m excited to bring this presentation to more schools or youth organizations!💃🏽✨

Rethinking Disabilities Toronto at Arta Gallery

This past Thursday, I was one of the speakers at Rethinking Disabilities Toronto, an event for HR leaders, talent acquisition specialists and DEI practitioners, where I led a session on What We Don’t See: Supporting Invisible Disabilities at Work. As someone who hid my muscle disability as much as I could for 30+ years, it was exciting to be in a space full of disability advocates, sharing my perspective and chatting with people advancing disability inclusion.

From connecting with an attendee who was also diagnosed later in life, to hearing another attendee’s story of how she was only able to explore getting a diagnosis after hearing someone else’s similar story - as one kind attendee said about my session, it was such a life-affirming night. Thanks to Scale HR for having me, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for future events! 🎉✨

I’m walking 57 km in May for Mobility Awareness Month!

I came back from my family trip to Paris at the end of April, and while I was there, I walked a lot. Which was great prep for my third year participating in the Invisible Disabilities Association’s Walk and Roll for Mobility Awareness Month in May!

I was born with Central Core Disease, a rare neuromuscular disorder and invisible disability. As the only Canadian ambassador for the IDA and to raise awareness for invisible disabilities, I’ve decided to walk 85,000 steps in May (about 57 km) - which is a lot when your life is about balancing your energy, because you have 33% of the physical strength of the average person.

Deciding to walk that many steps in a month is a bit daunting for someone with 33% strength.

Luckily, I also have 100% spirit. ✨

I’d love to have you join or support! You can donate to my participant page (in USD) here - as of this afternoon, I’ve walked almost 12 km, and raised $300 USD!