North Star with Ellin Bessner Born with a rare disorder, Maya Sinclair is overcoming the odds
Maya Sinclair lives with an extremely rare genetic condition. At six months old, she was diagnosed with Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome, which stunted her growth, kept her teeth abnormally small and forced her to have multiple eye surgeries for glaucoma.
Despite these challenges, and being bullied for them at school, Sinclair has written two children's books, spoken publicly about her condition, danced competitively and starred in a recent documentary. And she's only 12.
On Feb. 16, she and her documentary costars are taking part in an event in Montreal for Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month. They’ll be talking about Sinclair's challenges and what it was like making the film. To give a sneak peak, she joins The CJN Daily with her mother and their rabbi to discuss what life has been like with this rare disorder.
What we talked about:
- To attend the Zoom interview on Feb. 16 with Maya, the rabbi and her mother, register at jlive.app/events/1540
- Watch all four episodes of Becoming Big on YouTube
- Find Maya on Facebook and Amazon
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.