No Barriers

Lisa Lewis began her career with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus. She earned a master’s degree in Clown/Circus History from NYU. During the same period, she co-founded the Super Scientific Circus, a STEAM-based series of 6 shows which tour the country using Circus Skills to make science fun and accessible for all learning styles. Lisa received her certification from Marquis Studios as a teaching artist for District 75 specializing in Autism and at-risk youth in NYC where she taught for four years. Lisa performed with the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit and inspired by the efforts to serve new audiences, she became project coordinator for Circus of the Senses, a performance adapted for blind, visually impaired, Deaf, hard of hearing, and those who are neuro-diverse. Lisa doubled the reach of the program and seeing a need in the community, she created the Embracing Autism performances. Lisa expanded both offerings and audiences, created an inclusive training program for staff, and supported organization-wide inclusive hiring practices.Now, Lisa is the founder and mastermind behind A Bold New Circus: Omnium. A special thanks to Arrow Electronics for sponsoring this episode as part of their series highlighting people pioneering inclusive technology.Resources:Learn more about Omnium Circus: https://omniumcircus.org/Follow Omnium on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Dr. Doug Jackson serves as the President and CEO of Project CURE. Since 1987, Project C.U.R.E. has delivered equipment and supplies to hospitals and clinics in over 135 countries and was named by Forbes as one of the top 20 charities in America. In addition to delivering approximately five semi-truck-sized containers of medical relief each week, teams of medical professionals travel abroad to provide hundreds of hours of hands-on medical care and training through the C.U.R.E. Clinics program. Doug is a frequent motivational speaker to civic, corporate, and community organizations.Resources:https://projectcure.org/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectCURETwitter: https://twitter.com/projectcure

Kristan Seaford was a 38-year-old stay-at-home mom with five young children when a catastrophic illness struck. What began as the flu and strep throat turned into pneumonia and a life-threatening condition called septic shock. After 100 days, a medically-induced coma, six hospitals, and a miracle, she survived. She lives as a triple amputee, with her remaining foot missing the toes and heel. Today, Kristan is as busy as ever working as a motivational and faith-building speaker, a personal counselor, blogger, and writer.Resources:http://www.kristanseaford.com/Watch Kristan’s journey here: No Barriers Summit Story

Anthony Ferraro was born blind. Today Anthony is 25 years old and refers to himself as a professional athlete, musician, and motivational speaker. Flashing back to his High School career, Anthony was the only blind wrestler on his team. With the goal of winning a New Jersey state championship his senior year, his older brother Oliver followed him around and collected hundreds of hours of live footage. His film, “A Shot in the Dark” is now available on Amazon Prime. When the United States Paralympic committee came across a viral trailer of the film they asked him if he would train in Judo to represent his country at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. COVID derailed Anthony’s training temporarily and he pivoted to music as his main outlet. Taking his musical talents on the road, Anthony branded a live stream music tour he called, "Anthony Ferraro's Blind Busking Live Stream Music Tour 2020.” Along with his fiance, they traveled through 23 states and over 9,800 miles of American highways and backroads. Anthony continues to train for the upcoming Paralympic Games in Judo. His head is down and his focus is on continuing to get his message of peace and positivity to the world. Resources:Watch the film "A Shot In The Dark" on Amazon Prime Follow Anthony on his TikTok page Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/asfvision/Website -- https://asfvision.com

As President of The Prouty Project, Peter Bailey develops creative experience-based leadership development programs for companies and people to expand their life skills, belief systems, and communication processes. In his free time he roasts his own coffee beans, writes, sails, surfs, rock climbs, and enjoys time with his wife, kids, and two cats. Resources:Peter’s TEDx talk: “Developing The Heroic Journey Mindset”To learn more visit: www.proutyproject.com

Gerry Leary is the founder of the coffee shop, Unseen Bean in Boulder, CO. Gerry has been blind since he was born but his lack of vision does not stop him from roasting coffee. You don’t need sight to roast coffee, you need a heart, and Gerry has a huge one. Before coffee, Gerry was an auto mechanic for 40+ years. He loved working with his dad in their garage growing up and was told he couldn’t work on cars as a blind person - which only made him determined to do so. Gerry Leary's passion for coffee began in 1994 when visiting a San Francisco cafe. He heard what sounded like a rock tumbler and discovered it was a coffee roaster. He realized then that coffee didn’t have to be flat and bitter, as coffee roasting was a true art form. Gerry's visual impairment kept him from finding an apprenticeship in the coffee business. So he attended the San Francisco Coffee Training Institute and began a journey into the land of gourmet coffee roasting.Resources:Visit Gerry’s website to purchase coffee: https://www.theunseenbean.com/Check out his short film - a Vimeo Staff Pick - Roasting Coffee in the DarkListen to Gerry’s Filter Stories Episode here.

In 2017, Hadeel Ayoub founded BrightSign, a wearable technology start-up. BrightSign develops technology pieces that employ AI to facilitate communication for individuals who need it, such as people with hearing or speech disabilities or children with non-verbal autism.  Hadeel’s BrightSign Glove innovation has gained international recognition and has won global awards in Innovation and Artificial Intelligence. A special thanks to Arrow Electronics for sponsoring this episode as part of their series highlighting people pioneering inclusive technology. Resources:Twitter: @hadeelayoubSite: brightsignglove.comFrom Sign to Speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qDUK1xOY8o

Nicole Kelly proudly identifies as a person living with a disability and spends much of her time advocating for it! Nicole stepped into the role of a public figure in 2013 when she won the title of Miss Iowa, making her one of very few to compete at Miss America with a physical disability.  Nicole is the co-creator and co-host of the podcast, Disarming Disability, which aims to break down the stigma surrounding disability by engaging disability experts in conversation. Nicole has proudly spoken at schools, universities, and corporations across the country about disability equity and inclusion.This episode is sponsored by Wells Fargo, CoBank, Prudential, Arrow Electronics, and Winnebago Industries Foundation.Resources:www.missnicolegkelly.comFollow Nicole on Facebook, Instagram  & TwitterSubscribe & watch Nicole's videos on Youtube 

Subhasis has spent about 20 years developing cutting-edge technology, 5 years of practicing therapy, and 10 years in clinical research with varying degrees of success and failure. His diverse background led him to invent and commercialize the world’s first fully wearable, connected brain plasticity training tool that trains brain and body in one system. SynPhNe is the outcome of his Ph.D. (Biomechatronics) study which he completed after recovering from a brain injury himself. He is passionate about neuroplasticity, movement analysis, learning mechanisms, and aging. He has been a yoga and martial arts practitioner for the past 40 years and is currently living in Singapore. He makes friends easily with those who love food, traveling, and adventure.This episode was made possible by the support of Arrow Electronics. Resources:Visit SynPhNe’s Website:  www.synphne.comAdditional reading: The Brain that Changes Itself  by Norman Doidge 

Ann Curry is an award-winning journalist and photojournalist. She is a former NBC News Network anchor and international correspondent and has reported on conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Darfur, Congo, the Central African Republic, Serbia, Lebanon, and Israel; on nuclear tensions from North Korea and Iran and on numerous humanitarian disasters, including the tsunamis in Southeast Asia and Japan, and the massive 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Her awards for journalism include 7 Emmys. She has also been given numerous humanitarian awards, including from Refugees International, Americares, and Save the Children.  One award she especially prizes is a Medal of Valor from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, for her dedication to reporting about genocide.She has also reported and executive produced a documentary series about people caught in transformative world events entitled “We’ll Meet Again,” anchored and executive produced a live series about medical care in America entitled “Chasing the Cure,” and is a contributing writer for National Geographic Magazine and will be a Fellow at American University spring semester 2021, where she will be teaching seminars on Journalism, including about credibility, ethics, frontline reporting and interviewing. Resources:Ann’s TedTalk on Restoring JournalismMan's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl