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 😂🥰💖

Day 4 of Invisible Disabilities Week - it’s National Scar Appreciation Day!

Today is National Scar Appreciation Day, which I was excited to realize happens during Invisible Disabilities Week! 💃🏽

Last year, I did my first photo shoot for brand/speaker photos. Considering I talked about hiding my leg scar for 25+ years in my Speaker Slam Grand Slam speech (linked here!), I figured I should have some photos of it.

Growing up, I always tried to hide my legs. I didn’t wear shorts in public until my late twenties - other than occasionally on vacations, where I’d never see anyone again. 🙃

When I was 10 days old, I had a muscle biopsy. The doctors didn’t think I was going to live back then (when I was born, I didn’t cry, couldn’t suck to be fed, and couldn’t move my limbs), so they weren’t too concerned with the aesthetics of my surgery. So since then, I’ve had a 3 inch scar on the front of my left thigh.

For years, I hated my scar. It felt like the telltale sign of my disability - which I could hide pretty well until I had to open a heavy door, or walk up a flight of stairs, or get up from sitting on the ground.

After I did my speech about hiding my scar at the Archangel Summit/DestinyFest last year in front of 1,000 people in Toronto, a few people came up to me and said they have scars too that they struggle/d with, and how my talk moved them - which I’d never thought of as a possibility before then, but I loved it so much.

Just another reminder that we’re never as alone as we might think we are in our experiences. I still don’t love my scar, but it's there. I accept it more than I used to, and don’t hide it from people or in photos anymore. And I think little Lauren would be happy with that. ✨🫶🏽

Day 2 of Invisible Disabilities Week - Sirius XM Canada interview on The Boost!

Started my morning at Sirius XM Canada today for Canada Talks channel’s The Boost morning show, talking about my disability acceptance journey and Invisible Disabilities Week!

Thank you SO much to Liza Fromer, Patrick Bateman, Vicky Sparks and Nakita for having me - more thoughts and photos to come, and look out for Oct 20th’s The Boost episode on Sirius XM Canada’s Canada Talks channel (channel 167)! 🙌🏽💙✨

Thanks to the best publicist Dan Shaikh of Speaker Slam - today was the first time we’ve been to one of my interviews together! Check out my BTS highlight reel of the interview on my Instagram page here🎉

Day 1 of Invisible Disabilities Week - time for a re-introduction!

Today’s the start of Invisible Disabilities Week - a good time for a (re-)introduction! ✨

So hi! I’m Lauren - invisible disability speaker, accessibility advocate & frequent yay-sayer (fun fact, my 8th grade yearbook has one of my Favourite Sayings as “Yay!” so that part of me has been around a longgg time 😄)

I was born with Central Core Disease, a rare muscle disorder where some of the mitochondria in my muscle cells is missing. You might’ve seen the meme that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, converting food into energy and energy into strength. My own strength is about 33% of the average person, so a lot of things are harder for me.

Even though I was born with it, I was undiagnosed until I was 20, and didn’t hear the 33% strength part until 26. Pre-20, I knew I had a muscle disability, but not what, and pre-26, had no idea how far off I was from the average person.

With no language or terms to understand/explain it, and with a lot of internalized ableism, I hid it as much as I could for 30+ years. I used to tear up anytime I had to tell someone new - I’ve only been open for the last 3 years.

That’s when I spoke about it for the first time in a Speaker Slam competition - because I’d seen other speakers with disabilities share their stories, and was like “wait, we can talk about it?!” I’d never seen the point of sharing it before, and realized maybe the point was to help others feel seen, the way those speakers did for me.

6 months later, I competed again, to get more comfortable talking about it. I qualified for the 2023 Grand Slam finals, became the #2 Inspirational Speaker of the Year with this speech, and things took off!

Now, I’m a keynote speaker on invisible disabilities, resilience and belonging, the first and only Invisible Disabilities Association (IDA) Ambassador in Canada, and an Ambassador for the Rick Hansen Foundation School Program. I’ve had 20+ media features, and raised over $5,000 USD for the IDA. Best of all, I get to be part of the disability representation for others, that I never knew I needed for myself.

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

One Invisible Disabilities Week keynote down, one to go!

“I live with a lot of invisible disabilities, and your presentation spoke loudly to me, so thank you.” 🙏🏽

Any time a host or attendee of one of my talks has a response like the one above that I heard today, I’m so heartwarmed and encouraged - not only that my message is reaching the people who need to hear it, but that more people with invisible disabilities are finding the representation they need to see, just like I did/do.

Was so thrilled to be the virtual keynote speaker today for over 230 employees at Employment and Social Development Canada! And equally thrilled to see the comments and 100% feedback (check that out here!) 🎉

I’ve got one more talk for Invisible Disabilities Week next week, and then I’m looking ahead to International Day of Persons with Disabilities in December.

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

Catch me on Sirius XM Canada’s The Boost morning show to kick off Invisible Disabilities Week!

DID YOU KNOW that an estimated up to 80% of disabilities are non-apparent? I spent 30+ years hiding my muscle disability because I could, and because I didn’t want to talk about it.

But the fact that it was non-apparent also made it feel harder and more nerve-wracking to bring it up at all. What would people think or assume about me, if they knew I had a muscle disability?

It took me a long time to realize that my disability isn’t the problem - ableism is.

So excited to be on Sirius XM Canada’s The Boost morning show on Mon Oct 20 around 8:30-40 am, to talk about my journey and getting 13 buildings/monuments across 10 Canadian cities to light up for invisible disabilities!

Invisible Disabilities Week (Oct 19-25) is a time to normalize discussions around disability and listen to people’s experiences with their own, so I love seeing more recognition of it this month.

Thanks to the best publicist Dan Shaikh! 💃🏽💙✨

Invisible Disabilities Week speaking engagement for The Co-operators

In less than 10 days, I’ll be speaking virtually to 200-300 employees at The Co-operators about disability biases and beliefs, supporting invisible disabilities and fostering an empathetic, inclusive culture - a dream fit for Invisible Disabilities Week next week!

From my story of hiding my rare muscle disorder as much as I could for 30+ years, to rethinking common invisible disability myths and swapping in more inclusive language/responses, I’m so excited to speak to the ERG members - one of my favourite audiences!

To me, Invisible Disabilities Week (Oct 19-25) 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 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