WEBVTT 00:00.933 --> 00:03.516 (bright music) 00:10.040 --> 00:12.623 (gentle music) 00:18.006 --> 00:20.589 (bright music) 00:25.784 --> 00:28.367 (upbeat music) 00:34.084 --> 00:34.917 Well, hello, everyone. 00:34.917 --> 00:35.940 Jess Stainbrook here 00:35.940 --> 00:38.229 with the Invisible Disabilities Association 00:38.229 --> 00:41.340 on our "InVisible InCourage" podcast, 00:41.340 --> 00:44.100 and today we're actually gonna have some fun. 00:44.100 --> 00:47.790 I've got Wayne Connell, the CEO and founder, 00:47.790 --> 00:50.400 and we're gonna talk about technology 00:50.400 --> 00:52.950 and a lot of the things that are coming 00:52.950 --> 00:55.920 around based off of online options 00:55.920 --> 00:58.170 for where our podcast can go. 00:58.170 --> 01:01.680 And Wayne, I'm gonna let you kind of (mimics fanfare) 01:01.680 --> 01:03.810 do the surprise on the TV stuff. 01:03.810 --> 01:07.230 So yeah, here's Wayne, and let's have this conversation. 01:07.230 --> 01:08.970 It should be fun. Well, hey, Jess, 01:08.970 --> 01:11.640 you know, we're excited about announcing 01:11.640 --> 01:13.860 Invisible Disabilities Television. 01:13.860 --> 01:16.290 I think what we might wanna do is really talk a little bit 01:16.290 --> 01:18.720 about Invisible Disabilities Association first 01:18.720 --> 01:21.003 just so people understand who we are. 01:21.990 --> 01:24.900 So, you know, IDA is really about believing. 01:24.900 --> 01:25.830 We believe you. 01:25.830 --> 01:29.490 You know, sometimes the invisible nature of illness and pain 01:29.490 --> 01:31.110 can lead to disbelief. 01:31.110 --> 01:33.630 You know, people don't understand people because of that. 01:33.630 --> 01:35.820 You're rejected by friends and family 01:35.820 --> 01:37.560 and healthcare providers. 01:37.560 --> 01:38.790 You know, sometimes you're accused 01:38.790 --> 01:41.430 of being lazy and faking an illness. 01:41.430 --> 01:44.130 So why Invisible Disabilities Association? 01:44.130 --> 01:48.660 Really, the story begins when I met my wife back in 1992, 01:48.660 --> 01:50.550 and when I met her, she was diagnosed 01:50.550 --> 01:54.330 with primary progressive MS and Lyme disease in 1991, 01:54.330 --> 01:57.180 and at the age of 27, permanently disabled, 01:57.180 --> 01:59.460 you know, struck down in the prime of her life. 01:59.460 --> 02:01.035 We got married in '94, 02:01.035 --> 02:04.170 and in '96, she coined the phrase invisible disabilities. 02:04.170 --> 02:07.950 We'd park in a disability parking, accessible parking, 02:07.950 --> 02:09.510 people would scream at us. 02:09.510 --> 02:11.610 You know, Jess, you know about those nasty notes 02:11.610 --> 02:14.280 that people leave on people's cars when they can't see it, 02:14.280 --> 02:15.660 and that's exactly what was happening, 02:15.660 --> 02:17.370 is people would yell us and scream at us 02:17.370 --> 02:19.440 and say, you know, "You're not in a wheelchair. 02:19.440 --> 02:21.330 You can't park there." 02:21.330 --> 02:23.550 We took some of her writings, one of them, 02:23.550 --> 02:26.550 a great pamphlet called Don't Judge by Appearances, 02:26.550 --> 02:29.250 which we still have through Invisible Disabilities. 02:29.250 --> 02:31.530 It really helps people with accessible parking, 02:31.530 --> 02:34.383 to understand it, give them an idea, 02:35.370 --> 02:38.040 and the organization was born out of that. 02:38.040 --> 02:42.870 And, you know, here we are, oh my goodness, 27, 28, 29, 02:42.870 --> 02:44.820 whatever the number of years, 02:44.820 --> 02:46.590 almost three decades later, 02:46.590 --> 02:50.610 and we're so excited about the future for us, 02:50.610 --> 02:52.233 especially in 2024. 02:53.280 --> 02:54.390 Well, and we've really made 02:54.390 --> 02:56.400 some great strides, too, as well. 02:56.400 --> 02:59.100 You know, when you talk about the stories, 02:59.100 --> 03:00.663 especially around parking, 03:01.560 --> 03:03.900 around law enforcement interactions, 03:03.900 --> 03:05.670 first responder interactions, 03:05.670 --> 03:07.890 we've been able to create legislation 03:07.890 --> 03:12.450 that helps people get the symbol, the disability ID symbol, 03:12.450 --> 03:15.630 on their driver's license or government ID. 03:15.630 --> 03:17.250 And we've also created, during COVID, 03:17.250 --> 03:18.690 I think Wayne has his there, 03:18.690 --> 03:22.740 we created the disability ID card that people can wear. 03:22.740 --> 03:25.350 Has your photo on it, a little bit of information, 03:25.350 --> 03:26.730 has an emergency contact, 03:26.730 --> 03:29.430 but, again, shows that symbol. 03:29.430 --> 03:31.980 And so, yeah, we've taken some great strides 03:31.980 --> 03:33.630 for moving things forward. 03:33.630 --> 03:35.580 I mean, we're all about awareness 03:35.580 --> 03:39.060 and bringing more understanding for people 03:39.060 --> 03:41.370 who are living with invisible disabilities. 03:41.370 --> 03:43.110 And, again, it's why we're excited. 03:43.110 --> 03:45.840 You know, we have a couple of different podcast 03:45.840 --> 03:48.000 or video type programs 03:48.000 --> 03:49.260 that we're actually launching 03:49.260 --> 03:53.880 and moving toward this new IDTV, 03:53.880 --> 03:55.860 Invisible Disabilities Television. 03:55.860 --> 03:57.720 So how'd that come about? 03:57.720 --> 03:58.890 Well, it was just amazing. 03:58.890 --> 04:03.840 So a good friend of our organization is Brian J. Esposito 04:03.840 --> 04:07.230 and Brian is our director of development 04:07.230 --> 04:08.340 and known around the world, 04:08.340 --> 04:11.280 an incredible CEO and mover and shaker 04:11.280 --> 04:13.920 and a true influencer. 04:13.920 --> 04:17.070 And really, through Brian, had an opportunity 04:17.070 --> 04:19.830 to be introduced to Kathy Ireland, 04:19.830 --> 04:24.420 and so excited to see the great work that Kathy's doing, 04:24.420 --> 04:28.290 and Jason Winters, her longtime business partner, 04:28.290 --> 04:30.870 and we were introduced to a thing that we saw, 04:30.870 --> 04:34.257 I was just perusing the LinkedIn one day, Jess, 04:34.257 --> 04:38.340 and I saw this thing that said, "Your Home Television," 04:38.340 --> 04:39.747 you know, and Kathy Ireland was involved. 04:39.747 --> 04:42.450 And I thought, "What's Your Home Television?" 04:42.450 --> 04:45.300 And so I looked at it, I commented on it. 04:45.300 --> 04:46.680 I love commenting on LinkedIn 04:46.680 --> 04:48.537 just to really share the great stuff that we're doing. 04:48.537 --> 04:51.120 And I said, you know, "Our dream of our organization 04:51.120 --> 04:54.720 has always been to have a 24-hour television channel." 04:54.720 --> 04:57.510 And I'll tell you one of the reasons why, Jess, 04:57.510 --> 05:00.900 is my background, and especially your background, 05:00.900 --> 05:03.420 is the reason why we're excited about television. 05:03.420 --> 05:05.580 And I'll just share a little bit about my background. 05:05.580 --> 05:09.120 So, you know, prior to Invisible Disabilities, 05:09.120 --> 05:12.420 I actually was, my degree's in TV and radio broadcasting, 05:12.420 --> 05:15.390 and I love television, love being involved. 05:15.390 --> 05:17.070 Kind of an amateur video guy, 05:17.070 --> 05:19.530 did some videos and been a sound engineer 05:19.530 --> 05:20.910 for many, many years. 05:20.910 --> 05:22.950 But really, taking that technology 05:22.950 --> 05:24.330 into Invisible Disabilities, 05:24.330 --> 05:26.670 we did some stuff in 2011. 05:26.670 --> 05:28.680 We called it our Invisible No More campaign, 05:28.680 --> 05:31.170 and we got people to send in clips of their video 05:31.170 --> 05:32.250 about their stories. 05:32.250 --> 05:33.900 We kind of put it together. 05:33.900 --> 05:35.580 But we were way ahead of our time on that. 05:35.580 --> 05:37.983 You know, this is when phones on, 05:39.150 --> 05:41.160 telephones weren't even hardly out at the time, 05:41.160 --> 05:43.380 and we were just so far ahead of, 05:43.380 --> 05:45.600 and so it's just been a passion of mine, 05:45.600 --> 05:48.270 how do we share that story. 05:48.270 --> 05:50.760 And, Jess, tell us a little bit about yourself. 05:50.760 --> 05:52.650 You came on board in 2018, 05:52.650 --> 05:55.110 but why did you get involved with Invisible Disabilities? 05:55.110 --> 05:56.730 And it was way before 2018. 05:56.730 --> 05:58.830 And what is your passion? 05:58.830 --> 06:03.000 Yeah, well, most people know me for my background 06:03.000 --> 06:05.190 in media and broadcast television. 06:05.190 --> 06:08.940 So to see us move into this television thing 06:08.940 --> 06:10.680 is kind of a natural step for me. 06:10.680 --> 06:13.200 I mean, I've been doing this my entire career. 06:13.200 --> 06:15.210 I have a bunch of these floating around, 06:15.210 --> 06:16.200 if you've ever seen them. 06:16.200 --> 06:19.173 Let's see, here's some Emmys, here's some Tellys. 06:20.166 --> 06:21.570 Yeah, I don't have any of those, yet. 06:21.570 --> 06:24.360 Yeah, I've got shelves full of those 06:24.360 --> 06:27.450 based on, you know, a network that I built here in Colorado 06:27.450 --> 06:28.710 and a bunch of other programming 06:28.710 --> 06:32.250 that I've created over my entire career. 06:32.250 --> 06:35.340 But I really got started with IDA 06:35.340 --> 06:39.030 helping with videotape the galas, 06:39.030 --> 06:41.010 and then we would take those 06:41.010 --> 06:44.370 and turn it into short-form things that we could put. 06:44.370 --> 06:49.200 And then again, once online, you know, viewing came about, 06:49.200 --> 06:51.360 we could put those pieces up there 06:51.360 --> 06:53.520 and it's just continued to grow. 06:53.520 --> 06:55.893 I joined IDA in 2018 06:55.893 --> 06:58.410 and, of course, brought all those skillsets with me. 06:58.410 --> 07:00.300 I can't help myself with that. 07:00.300 --> 07:02.400 You know, it's all the creativity just keeps happening. 07:02.400 --> 07:05.010 So thanks to Wayne for letting me, 07:05.010 --> 07:07.560 you know, still do what I do in that context. 07:07.560 --> 07:10.470 But we launched a bunch of different programs 07:10.470 --> 07:13.800 before we partnered with Your Home TV, 07:13.800 --> 07:17.010 just as a podcast and informational 07:17.010 --> 07:19.860 and things that would help people understand more 07:19.860 --> 07:21.060 about what was going on. 07:21.060 --> 07:25.680 So our "InVisible InCourage" podcast really has, 07:25.680 --> 07:27.750 gosh, we have a ton of episodes 07:27.750 --> 07:29.790 and we're excited to launch that 07:29.790 --> 07:32.850 on the Your Home TV network as well. 07:32.850 --> 07:35.440 But it's an opportunity to talk to experts 07:36.480 --> 07:38.610 across a wide variety of things 07:38.610 --> 07:39.960 that people are dealing with 07:39.960 --> 07:42.330 in the invisible disability space. 07:42.330 --> 07:44.520 Well, I'll tell you, we couldn't be more grateful 07:44.520 --> 07:47.400 to Sean Stockell and Domenic Melillo 07:47.400 --> 07:49.440 with Your Home Television 07:49.440 --> 07:50.497 and them stepping up and saying, 07:50.497 --> 07:53.850 "Hey, they wanna support Invisible Disabilities Television. 07:53.850 --> 07:58.320 They want us to be part of their network 07:58.320 --> 07:59.970 that they've built." 07:59.970 --> 08:01.980 And it's an on-demand type of network. It's awesome. 08:01.980 --> 08:04.650 You can go and watch any of the shows that are out there. 08:04.650 --> 08:06.600 They have over 30 channels now. 08:06.600 --> 08:09.060 They're launching an additional at least 30 or more 08:09.060 --> 08:10.740 from my understanding. 08:10.740 --> 08:12.270 And we're excited to be part of that. 08:12.270 --> 08:14.700 I mean, we couldn't, you know, it is, 08:14.700 --> 08:17.820 Jess, I haven't been able to sleep for two months 08:17.820 --> 08:19.200 because of finding out about this 08:19.200 --> 08:22.091 and exciting about launching it and those things. 08:22.091 --> 08:23.640 Now, you talked about, 08:23.640 --> 08:25.170 you know, what are we gonna be launching on there? 08:25.170 --> 08:27.390 Well, yes, the "InVisible InCourage" show 08:27.390 --> 08:28.980 is gonna be one of our first. 08:28.980 --> 08:31.890 We're gonna have some great stories, 08:31.890 --> 08:34.110 and we'll be moving forward with that on a regular basis 08:34.110 --> 08:36.180 and you'll see lots more episodes coming out. 08:36.180 --> 08:37.890 We were into, we were able 08:37.890 --> 08:39.480 to dive into our archive, right? 08:39.480 --> 08:41.520 I mean, this is the amazing thing. 08:41.520 --> 08:45.840 The Brain IDEAS Summit that you had done for so long, 08:45.840 --> 08:48.270 all of that stuff can come back in. 08:48.270 --> 08:50.400 I mean, the great thing about our partnership 08:50.400 --> 08:51.720 with Your Home TV 08:51.720 --> 08:53.640 is that we have our own channel. 08:53.640 --> 08:56.340 So you'll go out there and see IDTV, 08:56.340 --> 08:58.170 Invisible Disabilities Television, 08:58.170 --> 09:00.720 and in there, there'll be some subcategories 09:00.720 --> 09:02.970 where you can go find different subject matter 09:02.970 --> 09:03.870 and things like that. 09:03.870 --> 09:07.020 So the Brain IDEAS. 09:07.020 --> 09:09.480 We have Healthy Humor section 09:09.480 --> 09:11.100 where some things are gonna happen. 09:11.100 --> 09:12.600 There's Healthy Homes. 09:12.600 --> 09:15.060 In other words, you know, some new technologies 09:15.060 --> 09:16.590 that are coming about in construction 09:16.590 --> 09:20.280 and how to do stuff in your home to help yourself. 09:20.280 --> 09:21.510 Healthy Living. 09:21.510 --> 09:22.950 And obviously, you know, we've got 09:22.950 --> 09:26.490 our "Invisible No More" show and a bunch of other things. 09:26.490 --> 09:27.990 What am I forgetting, Wayne? 09:27.990 --> 09:30.570 Well, I wanna tell people about what IDEAS means, right? 09:30.570 --> 09:33.210 So they're like, "Oh, cool, we got cool ideas." 09:33.210 --> 09:36.480 You know, IDEAS, which is unique to Invisible Disabilities, 09:36.480 --> 09:37.313 that stands for 09:37.313 --> 09:39.690 Invisible Disabilities Education, Awareness, and Support. 09:39.690 --> 09:41.610 And so you talked about Brain IDEAS. 09:41.610 --> 09:42.813 We have Love IDEAS. 09:43.653 --> 09:45.690 You know, we had an amazing Love IDEAS Summit 09:45.690 --> 09:47.610 back at the beginning of COVID 09:47.610 --> 09:51.930 with, oh my goodness, the top authors and speakers 09:51.930 --> 09:54.630 on relationships across the board, 09:54.630 --> 09:57.270 on marriage relationships, 09:57.270 --> 09:59.040 on relationships in your business, 09:59.040 --> 10:03.600 all over those, living with humor and romance 10:03.600 --> 10:04.890 and all these incredible things 10:04.890 --> 10:07.620 about, you know, how do you interact in the workplace. 10:07.620 --> 10:10.710 That was an interesting time, Wayne, if you'll remember, 10:10.710 --> 10:12.990 because I think it was in November when we launched that. 10:12.990 --> 10:16.410 So we had all been shut down for what, six, seven months, 10:16.410 --> 10:20.910 and we saw the need for relationship help 10:20.910 --> 10:24.060 in a lot of people's, you know, everybody was forced home 10:24.060 --> 10:26.520 and so, you know, we're used to going to work, 10:26.520 --> 10:29.340 we're used to, you know, we don't see our spouse that much 10:29.340 --> 10:30.750 or our kids that much, 10:30.750 --> 10:32.160 and everybody was forced together. 10:32.160 --> 10:36.540 And really what we came up with was this incredible idea 10:36.540 --> 10:39.630 of hosting a relationship summit 10:39.630 --> 10:41.430 where every day for a week, 10:41.430 --> 10:43.890 we allowed for two hours of content. 10:43.890 --> 10:46.290 And like Wayne said, we got the powerhouses. 10:46.290 --> 10:48.030 We did. Like, the top people that, 10:48.030 --> 10:49.980 I mean, you went to a bookstore 10:49.980 --> 10:52.620 and looked in the relationship section, 10:52.620 --> 10:53.460 these are the guys, 10:53.460 --> 10:56.490 and they all, you know, pro bono gave us their time 10:56.490 --> 10:58.740 and gave us, you know, some information 10:58.740 --> 11:00.780 and we talked to each one of them for about an hour. 11:00.780 --> 11:02.340 So we have a ton of that. 11:02.340 --> 11:03.930 And then we did all these other ones too, 11:03.930 --> 11:05.850 which were so much fun. 11:05.850 --> 11:07.050 Well, it is amazing. 11:07.050 --> 11:08.730 You know, we talk about healthy humor. 11:08.730 --> 11:10.770 You know, it's great partnerships 11:10.770 --> 11:13.530 like with the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. 11:13.530 --> 11:15.750 You know, every year, they do an annual symposium, 11:15.750 --> 11:18.360 and they're doing it this year in Denver. 11:18.360 --> 11:20.670 I mean, that's where IDA was born in, 11:20.670 --> 11:23.790 here in Colorado where, you know, I'm a native. 11:23.790 --> 11:26.423 And so we're real excited about our work with Karyn Buxman. 11:26.423 --> 11:28.547 I mean, we always gotta talk about Karyn Buxman, 11:28.547 --> 11:29.850 you know, neurohumorist. 11:29.850 --> 11:33.600 You'll see a lot of her information on humor 11:33.600 --> 11:35.760 in the different venues, 11:35.760 --> 11:37.620 in the Brain IDEAS and the Love IDEAS, 11:37.620 --> 11:39.120 you know, in these different areas, 11:39.120 --> 11:43.020 because we think that, you know, great experts 11:43.020 --> 11:44.100 talking about things 11:44.100 --> 11:46.320 that can help people with invisible disabilities. 11:46.320 --> 11:48.420 And by the way, invisible disabilities is not limited 11:48.420 --> 11:51.250 to what we would consider maybe a disability like MS 11:52.140 --> 11:55.770 or, you know, it's chronic fatigue, it's fibromyalgia, 11:55.770 --> 11:57.600 it's these invisible symptoms of an illness. 11:57.600 --> 11:58.740 It's PTSD. 11:58.740 --> 11:59.850 It's in the mental health. 11:59.850 --> 12:00.870 It's autism. 12:00.870 --> 12:02.730 It's what I call neuro invisible. 12:02.730 --> 12:05.490 Well, I even have a series talking about the neuro invisible 12:05.490 --> 12:07.110 through part of our Brain IDEAS 12:07.110 --> 12:10.290 where we'll look at how is neuro invisible impacting 12:10.290 --> 12:12.330 in the workplace and at home and those things. 12:12.330 --> 12:14.610 So, Jess, I mean, the experts are, 12:14.610 --> 12:16.920 unbelievable amount of experts that we could find. 12:16.920 --> 12:18.240 We're gonna launch with a great amount 12:18.240 --> 12:20.883 of phenomenal programming right off the bat, 12:21.990 --> 12:22.860 and then more to come. 12:22.860 --> 12:25.020 I mean, we're so excited. 12:25.020 --> 12:27.930 And I'll tell you, it's gonna take a lot of work on our part 12:27.930 --> 12:29.220 to put them together 12:29.220 --> 12:33.450 and the work on your part, you out there viewing this, 12:33.450 --> 12:35.640 is that we're gonna need supporters and sponsors 12:35.640 --> 12:38.730 to help us actually fund this channel 12:38.730 --> 12:41.220 and it's a great opportunity to get involved in that. 12:41.220 --> 12:43.710 Also, and I'm sure, Jess, you would agree with this, 12:43.710 --> 12:46.080 if you have incredible, 12:46.080 --> 12:48.900 we're talking professional content in the disability space, 12:48.900 --> 12:49.980 you know, let's talk. 12:49.980 --> 12:51.780 Maybe it's something that would fit good for our channel. 12:51.780 --> 12:53.400 We might wanna showcase as well. 12:53.400 --> 12:56.580 So, you know, let us know on that too. 12:56.580 --> 13:01.580 Yeah, the way to find us is yourhometv.com. 13:02.070 --> 13:05.400 And again, you can look for the IDTV channel 13:05.400 --> 13:06.930 on that website. 13:06.930 --> 13:09.300 So that's really exciting. 13:09.300 --> 13:10.163 Or invisibledisabilitiestelevision.org, 13:12.720 --> 13:16.431 or, really, invisibledisabilities.tv. 13:16.431 --> 13:17.264 You know, you go there 13:17.264 --> 13:19.170 and it'll take you right to our channel 13:19.170 --> 13:21.630 and you'll find all kinds of great resources on our website 13:21.630 --> 13:23.610 at invisibledisabilities.org. 13:23.610 --> 13:25.290 We'll be talking about the different hosts 13:25.290 --> 13:27.566 and about the different shows. 13:27.566 --> 13:29.670 Oh, man, I'm just so excited. 13:29.670 --> 13:31.260 Like I said, I haven't slept for two months 13:31.260 --> 13:32.400 and I'm really excited about this 13:32.400 --> 13:34.890 because, you know, we know that the people out there 13:34.890 --> 13:36.210 that we're supporting, 13:36.210 --> 13:38.460 the people that are following Invisible Disabilities, 13:38.460 --> 13:40.860 you know, they have been abandoned and disregarded 13:40.860 --> 13:42.180 by their friends and family 13:42.180 --> 13:44.287 and we wanna create great resources for them that says, 13:44.287 --> 13:46.350 "Hey, you know, you're not alone. 13:46.350 --> 13:47.763 We believe you, 13:48.690 --> 13:51.540 and we want to be able to support you in any way we can." 13:52.410 --> 13:56.007 Well, like Wayne said, there's lots of resources, 13:56.007 --> 13:59.430 yourhometv.com, as well as our website, 13:59.430 --> 14:01.320 invisibledisabilities.org, 14:01.320 --> 14:03.210 which will lead you to all kinds of things 14:03.210 --> 14:04.043 that could be helpful. 14:04.043 --> 14:07.110 So again, thanks for joining us on today's show. 14:07.110 --> 14:09.000 Really was talking about technology 14:09.000 --> 14:11.580 and all of the programming that we've created over the years 14:11.580 --> 14:14.520 that now you'll have a chance to be able to go and find. 14:14.520 --> 14:15.900 So thanks, Wayne. 14:15.900 --> 14:17.670 Thank you, Jess. And we'll see you guys 14:17.670 --> 14:18.526 all later. 14:18.526 --> 14:21.109 (bright music) 14:30.767 --> 14:34.184 (bright music continues) 14:41.533 --> 14:44.116 (upbeat music)