January 30, 2024 • 31 mins
According to the CDC, 61 million adults in the United States live with a disability. This week's guest, Christopher Myers, share his personal story with Tara Thurber and illustrates the importance of his platform - ReAbility.
ReAbility is a service providing real-time information to individuals with disabilities - parents, caregivers, case managers, etc. – to improve the quality of their lives. This information includes but is not limited to resources, leisure activities and networking opportunities.
Christopher currently lives in the greater Memphis area as an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of Memphis, owner of a consulting practice and author of 11 books. He is a loving husband to his wife Susie and their 4 adult children.
To learn more about ReAbility, please visit: https://www.dreamscapereability.org/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Tara Thurber (00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome back to Top5 brought to
you by DefinedTalent. We are aresults driven service working
with clients to connect themwith quality talent as well as
working to make an impact withinthe recruiting industry. We talk
straight about today'sprofessional world with real
world professionals, experts inrecruitment, job seekers and
business owners alike. Have aquestion for us. Send it in and
(00:24):
you might spur our nextconversation. I'm Tara Thurber,
co founder and director oftalent partnerships here at
DefineTalent. And joining metoday is Chris Myers, a multi
hat wearing marketer professorand advocate. Hey, Chris, how
are you today?
Christopher Myers (00:42):
I'm doing great, Tara, thanks so much for
having me.
Tara Thurber (00:44):
Awesome. I am so excited to have you on and and
let's just dive in. I knowyou've got an amazing story that
we want to share with ourlisteners. So can you please
start by sharing your personalhistory that led you to where
you are today?
Christopher Myers (00:58):
Sure, thanks.
So I'm the youngest of sevengood Catholic family.
Grew up downin Louisiana and moved to
Tara Thurber (01:03):
(laughs) Memphis when I was young. Five
years old. My father wasPresident of Better Business
Bureau, which is kind of a quasigovernmental agencies support
type of group anyway, and stayedthrough high school, went away
to college, Washington, DC,eventually met my wife there and
then went to graduate school outin Arizona got an MBA in
international marketing. Soalong the way, I started to
(01:25):
think about how can I make animpact? My father really
stressed that in our family, getout there and volunteer as much
as you can do things to help thecommunity around you? His whole
life, his whole career was builton that. So when my wife and I
started a family back in thelate 80s, and into the 90s, we
have now four children, myoldest is now almost 35, hard to
(01:49):
believe. He has his ownbusiness. My son Taylor, who
I'll talk about in just aminute. Then I have my youngest
son Cameron, who's got his owneBay business. Yay, Cameron, and
then my daughter is a graduatestudent, hopefully is going to
be a teacher. She's in theCollege of Education at the
University of Memphis, where Iteach marketing. So my wife is a
proud registered nurse andpostpartum at one of the
(02:11):
hospitals here in Memphis. Sowe're busy bunch. So I guess my
point is how I got to this pointtoday, when Taylor was born,
Taylor is my special one. He'smy pride and joy. He's 32. He
has cerebral palsy, autism andintellectual disability. He
functions about a two year oldlevel with no speech. So he's
constant care.
(02:33):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (02:34):
When he was diagnosed in May of 1992, with
significant developmentaldelays, this was really pretty
much pre internet. My wife and Ijust kind of went into orbit,
like, how are we going tosupport him, because his older
brother was what Iaffectionately called the golden
child.
Tara Thurber (02:49):
(laughs)
Christopher Myers (02:50):
Tristan was born 1989 You know, beautiful
nine& a half pounds, and hedidn't have a cold, he was eight
months old for pete's sake.
Tara Thurber (02:58):
Wow.
Christopher Myers (02:58):
Taylor was the complete opposite. Taylor
had a partially clubfoot. He hadto wear braces, it just a
totally different type of child.
We love him certainly as much asany of our children, but he
needed special care.
Tara Thurber (03:11):
Right.
Christopher Myers (03:12):
So in the early 90s, I'll be very frank
for your listeners, when I was Iwas angry, I was frustrated, I
didn't know why. The good lord,you know, provided a child who,
you know, I thought it was agood person, you know, all these
emotions going through. Andfrankly, my wife said you're not
helping Taylor, you're not,you're not, you need to do
(03:33):
something more, stop with allthe focus on you and focus on
him. So by the mid 90s, whenTaylor was going to some special
programs, I joined several ofthe boards here Memphis. So for
your listeners, I'm in theMemphis, Tennessee area. And the
challenge there was I needed tolearn - learn about the world of
special needs, learn about howstates allocate resources or not
(03:55):
learn about how budgets and allthose issues, wherever your
listeners are, I'm sure theyhave the same issue. All the
states are strugglingfinancially, all of them or I
don't care if you're in New Yorkor California, Texas or
Tennessee, all the rest. They'restruggling because the number of
folks who are in the worldspecial needs is continuing to
(04:15):
grow at a very surprising,almost alarming rate. So for
your listeners, they may notknow there are 60 million people
here in the United States thathave some form of special needs.
Tara Thurber (04:26):
Wow.
Christopher Myers (04:27):
In the state of Tennessee, it's over a
million in my area of theMemphis metropolitan area.
160,000. I will tell youcandidly, as much as I love the
agencies here, they don't nearlysupport anywhere close to what
is needed, including for my son.
Tara Thurber (04:41):
Right.
Christopher Myers (04:42):
Well along the way, I'm basically trying to
find a way to make a differenceon the board and be a good
corporate person to help themwith their budgets. But along
the way, Tara, it was veryapparent to me, I need to engage
in a totally different way.
Tara Thurber (04:56):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (04:56):
I need to be part of the community in a
totally different way. So,through a lot of just kind of
trial and error and whatnot Idecided to be a part of other
types of activities andagencies. And then eventually, I
made my way to, which I thinkwe're going to talk about here
in a minute, the ReAbilityplatform idea, what else can I
(05:18):
do? I can't change the fact thatmy son functions at a two year
old level, but I can helpimprove the quality of life.
Right? And what can you do tomake that happen? information?
Knowledge is power, as we allknow, can you provide
information in real time thatcan truly make a difference in
that those parents, caregivers,grandparents, whomever, can make
(05:39):
good, hopefully good qualityjudgment decisions about the
future of their child, right?
Tara Thurber (05:44):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (05:44):
So that doesn't exist. At least in my
state it doesn't exist. Thereare a lot of folks out there
that pop on the web, and they'lllook at a particular site. But
those are all static. Theydon't, they don't really change.
Tara Thurber (05:55):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (05:55):
And they're, and they're not permission
based, and they're notcustomized. So you can look up a
particular agency focused onautism, that's great. But unless
that agency changes itsprogramming or add something
else to it, it's exactly thesame. So from a parent's point
of view, that doesn't reallyhelp me.
Tara Thurber (06:12):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (06:13):
I need to know what else is out there so
that I can plan ahead, planningso that I can make good
decisions on behalf of my son.
So yeah, that's kind of thegenesis so those early years
with Taylor, honestly, I was nota good dad, I'll be the first to
admit I wasn't, I was angry atthe world and angry at
everything. And my wife's like,you got to do better, you're not
(06:33):
helping.
Tara Thurber (06:35):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (06:35):
So it really was an epiphany moment.
Tara Thurber (06:38):
Wow.
Christopher Myers (06:39):
Yeah, so that's kind of the backdrop. And
along the way, you know, it'sbeing a good marketer for
various corporations in otherplaces. I'm also a professor of
marketing at the University ofMemphis, I do marketing,
consulting, I do a lot ofdifferent things. I'm a writer,
11-time writer. Butfundamentally, this is what I'm
passionate about is reallygiving back to the community
because I think it's just in myDNA, from my upbringing, that my
(07:03):
father really instilled that inall of us, you have to give
back. There's so many people outthere struggling, what can you
do to help them and not justwriting checks, be a part of the
solution, not just writing acheck and walking away? That
doesn't solve anything. It'sgreat, but it doesn't solve the
problem.
Tara Thurber (07:19):
Agree 1,000,000%.
You need to join together andbring the forces together so
that it's not just anindividual, it's it's a oneness.
It's everybody coming togetherto make a difference.
Christopher Myers (07:31):
Yeah, absolutely. And it's hard. I
mean, I'll be the first admit, Imean, I didn't really know how
to be a great advocate. What arethe guidelines? Where's the book
that tells you how to do this?
Tara Thurber (07:45):
(laughs) The Book of Life or The Book of
Partenting.
Christopher Myers (07:47):
Yeah, The Book of Life. Yeah, exactly. You
know, it's like, how do youfigure out it's like, being a
parent, you know, so I knowyou're a proud parent to Tara,
as I am.
Tara Thurber (07:55):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (07:56):
Where's the book about being a parent? There
isn't one a lot of it'sinstinctive. And so in this
case, though, but there areother people that are involved.
In other words, supporting otherfamilies, many of whom I will
never meet, and advocating forthem. That's a totally different
level. Because now you're sayingI'm looking at the big macro
level type issues for mycommunity. We're in desperate I
know, we'll talk about we're indesperate need of de center
(08:18):
programs for those young folkswho aged out of the school
system. I'm not sure about yourstate of New Jersey, been in
Tennessee, it's at 22 at 22, thestate boots you out, you're
gone. You gotta go, wherever youare. In your birthday. My son's
birthday is in April. So by thetime he graduated in May, he was
he was gone from the school, nomatter what, you got to find a
(08:38):
way you know, Chris, and Susie,my wife's name is Susie Chris
and Susie Meyers, you gotta finda way for your son Taylor. By,
thankfully, because we were bothadvocates, and you know, a lot
of it on me, I was able to finda program where we'll build
something for him, but it'sstill anyway, it's still very
tenuous, there still needs to beso much more than is out there
Tara Thurber (08:58):
You know, I was doing some research, and there's
so much more.
a statistic from October 2023.
That says 90% of websites areinaccessible to people with
disabilities who rely onassistive technology. So for our
listeners, can you explain to uswhat makes a website
inaccessible? And then I'm gonnastack a question here, What are
(09:22):
some ways websites can adapt tobecome accessible?
Christopher Myers (09:28):
Sure. So for my own personal research, that's
a great question. I've had thisquestion asked to me before. Is
the platform that we're going totalk about a minute, is that
accessible? And answer is yes.
Fundamentally, you know, whenwhen websites are built by any
company, including the one thatI work for, no one honestly
thinks about ADA, the AmericanDisabilities Act.
(09:49):
No one reallythinks about enlarging letters
Tara Thurber (09:49):
Yep.
and keys and stuff on keyboardsand when all those types of
things, the images that are on,on screens and whatnot. So some
images for some autisticchildren and adults, for
example, Tara, are notnecessarily offensive, but they
can be alarming because thoseimages can be bright colors and
(10:11):
very loud and things that arecoming at them can be extremely
distracting and alsodebilitating. So I think what
has happened, and again, lovetechnology out there and people
building the newest, coolestthing. AI is out there, and
everybody's talking about it.
But the reality is for thispopulation, those websites are
out there honestly, are notaccessible because they didn't
really think about how do I makethe keys bigger? How do I make
(10:34):
the font bigger? How do we makethis more conducive to their
needs, as opposed to just makeit standard for everybody?
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (10:43):
So you can go on any website at any point in
time. Google this and Googlethat that's not a problem, this
population, you have to take astep back, take a deep breath,
and like, okay, can they reallyconnect with what the
information is being shown anduse the platform and tools the
way it's supposed to be done?
Chances are probably not.
Tara Thurber (11:01):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (11:01):
And that's really sad.
Tara Thurber (11:02):
It is sad. It is sad. And I know I mean, in my
industry, digital accessibilityhas been really huge. I mean,
our sister company fromDefinedTalent is DefinedLogic
and they're a digital productagency. And they have a specific
accessibility team that willhelp clients to make sure that
their websites are digitallyaccessible, but it's a long
(11:26):
road. I think it's a long road,I still don't think it's out
there are enough in the public,for businesses and people that
are creating these websites tounderstand and so it's as a
creative myself it starts withthe idea, but then you need to
(11:48):
make that idea accessible toeverybody to right? If you want
to put that out there. And withthe internet and everything else
that we're dealing with, it isso important to make sure it is
all accessible for people acrossall spectrums.
Christopher Myers (12:07):
Correct.
Absolutely. I mean, think aboutlet's go back in time, 30-40
years, so the when the PresidentGeorge HW Bush got the ADA and
put it into motion intolegislation enacted, how many
years did it take forbusinesses, organizations to get
ramps for wheelchairs to do allthe bathrooms and all the things
that so many grumbled, oh, mygosh, you know, this guy is
(12:29):
going to fall because businessis going to shut down, he asked
us to do too much. We'respending too much blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah. Still today,in 2024, I would bet you if you,
if I go out in the Memphis area,there gonna be some businesses
that didn't do what they'resupposed to do and shame on them
for not.
Tara Thurber (12:45):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (12:45):
So the technology end of it. It's it's
a lagging kind of indicator, Ithink it's going to take time
for to get. And now again, withAI, it's going to be
accelerated, I can only hope andpray that these organizations do
the right thing.
Tara Thurber (12:59):
Yeah, I agree. So let's dive into the biggest
reason on why we're here today.
And its ReAbility, let's diveinto why ReAbility was created
the population it serves andsome of the core functionalities
of it.
Christopher Myers (13:15):
Sure. So, back during the Great Recession,
I had this kind of epiphanymoment people talk about writing
things on the back of a napkin,right?
I was havinglunch one day here in Cairo,
Tara Thurber (13:25):
(laughs) which is a suburb of Memphis,
with some friends from aconsulting firm. And I was
president of a board, anonprofit board at that time,
and I said, you know, what I'vedone a pretty good job of
keeping track of all the budgetsand all that, but there's still
something missing. What else canwe do to help these families?
And I frequently get lots offamilies that come up to me,
(13:46):
call me Text me, email me,whatever, Chris, you're an
advocate, what are you doing?
What's happening in the world?
Why can't we have something ofyou know, of technology,
whatever? So I had this idea.
What if we had a real timeinformation platform that
provided information to youbased on a customized profile?
You could log in, you canregister, you can put in some
(14:10):
keywords, and when theseagencies around the country have
a change in their programming,let's say for a job or for
social events or something else,you would get an email or text
alert. And so the people theconsulting firm kind of looked
at me like I had two heads(laughs).
(laughs)
Christopher Myers (14:27):
At that time in May 2010, Google I think was
here, but I don't certainly notto level it is today. So the
thought was, hey, we need tohave this platform. So one thing
led to another as a goodmarketer, that I hope that I am.
I know I needed to have researchdone. So I found a professor at
the University of Memphis hername is Dr. Susan Neely Barnes,
(14:48):
as I affectionately call her mysecond favorite Susan, my wife's
name is Susan.
Tara Thurber (14:52):
Right (laughs).
Christopher Myers (14:53):
And I did quantitative research. So for
those listeners out there,they'll appreciate that
statistically as a valid samplehere in the state of Tennessee
and it said 81% of the peoplesaid, You know what, we love
this idea of this real timeplatform. That's great. Chris,
go and build it. And some evensaid, You know what, hey, if you
build it and if we can get yourhelp to build customized plans
(15:15):
for us, because we don't knowwhat we're doing for our child,
hey, yeah, they X amount ofmoney. Not that great. Hey, I
hit a home run. Okay, now what?
Well, now you got to build apilot program. Okay, so I found
some other folks here locally inthe Memphis area to do that.
Unfortunately, the technology,honestly, Tara, was pretty
clunky. It was it was not verygood. When you had to have 18
minute video to explain what itis, oh my gosh (laughs).
Tara Thurber (15:38):
(laughs)
Christopher Myers (15:40):
So no offense to that person, delightful woman
to you know, a brillianttechnology person, but she
totally missed the mark. So Igot discouraged a little bit.
Kept my faith going and say,There's got to be another way I
am not going to let go this.
People want this to happen. Soin March of 2019, literally on
the web, I found a foundationdown in Naples, Florida, called
(16:02):
Dreamscape. And as it turnedout, the executive director took
my call on a Friday afternoon,as the story goes, and explained
who I was. And he didn't know mefrom Adams, like, Who is this
guy calling from Memphis? So onething led to another, I sent him
my research and said, I need apartner, I need someone to help
me build this platform, can youhelp me? So I flew down to
(16:22):
Naples. A few weeks later, wesigned an agreement and we found
this IT consulting firm in NewDelhi, India called ISK Pro,
about a year later, in July,just after July 4, 2020, we
launched ReAbility.
So thefeatures of it are again, you
Tara Thurber (16:39):
Wow.
log in, you register, you putsome keywords in about things
that you're interested in foryourself, if you're able to
cognitively or your loved one,let's say you're interested in
dance classes, or you'reinterested in going to movies,
or whatever the case may be myson, Taylor loves to play with
(17:02):
balls. So, always use theexample of Hey, Chris, what if
there's a ball camp in Jackson,Tennessee, which is a city about
an hour away from me, east ofme, you know, in dollars, click
on this link, there you go. Andyou say, Well, gee, I could find
that anytime, then notnecessarily that program, that
activity would come to you, wewould come to you in an email or
(17:23):
text alert. That way, again, youcan plan ahead. So the purpose,
really is twofold of why Icreated ReAbility. One is
honestly to give hope forparents that there is something
other than the static websitesout there. And two is that you
can have real time informationso that you can make those good
decisions on behalf of yourloved one. And the other really
(17:43):
cool feature of the site is it'sgot 10 gigabytes of storage, per
person. So what is the as thatmatter? Well, if you're a person
listening to this podcast, ifyou've had any kind of medical
reports, or some of these otherthings, for your loved one, we
had binders and binders I'membarrassed to say this, Tara,
on your podcast but we hadbinders and binders of
(18:06):
handwritten notes from one ofhis caregivers, handwritten
notes, not going to Acrobat, youknow, Adobe, PDF, handwritten
notes, God forbid, if we everhad a fire (laughs). All those
things are original. So that hasstorage capability. So it's
password protected andencrypted. So if you wanted to
put your doctor's notes, yourmedical notes, notes from your
(18:28):
teacher, or whatever it might befor your child or adult with
special needs, you can safely doit in your profile, and on the
site. So yeah, that's reallycool. And so all those features,
and so many others, and maybewe'll talk about some things
that I would love to see to beenhanced by, but that's why the
site is out there. The targetaudience simply is, honestly,
(18:49):
any agency that wants to be apart of it. There's 50, today
across the country, we startedwith three now we have 350.
Wow.
Christopher Myers (18:59):
And then two, it's all the individuals,
parents, their loved one, thecenter, those are the people I
really want to see use the sitemuch more so that they can go in
and connect with others. Thispopulation unfortunately, some
of the agencies don't play wellin the sandbox, honestly,
they're very focused on theirown mission. So this is
(19:20):
hopefully opening doors for themto collaborate with each other
locally or frankly nationallyabout other challenges and other
issues. If I can tell real quickstory.
Tara Thurber (19:29):
Please.
Christopher Myers (19:29):
There's a lady that I chatted with
yesterday, he started at a placecalled Harbor House in
Louisville, Kentucky. Absolutelyphenomenal place. And she just
said you know what, Chris?
Almost 30 years ago I had thisvision to and I wanted to have
something better for the adultsin our area where they could go
now she has over 200 adults thatare there and it's a wonderful,
incredible place.
(19:53):
It's justwarms your heart when you hear
Tara Thurber (19:53):
Wow.
about these great stories ofpeople using technology and
using you know vision of wherethey want to go. And so that's
why I created it. I'm so veryproud of it. And I love the
folks at Dreamscape, you know,for what they did to help,
hopefully we'll talk about in aminute that where it needs to
go. But yeah, 60 million peopleacross the US who have special
(20:14):
needs. So if I can help everysingle one, I would love to, you
know (laughs) I really would!It's so amazing
and how it can bring peopletogether to just provide
information and a community forsupport.
Christopher Myers (20:29):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, especially the
social networking is an areawe're really going to focus on
this year, because thispopulation, your viewers may
know, is, unfortunately,probably at the bottom as far as
connection, but other they don'treally have a lot of friends.
Tara Thurber (20:46):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (20:47):
Unfortunately for that, that leads to boredom
leads to lethargy.
Tara Thurber (20:50):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (20:51):
It leads to have a problem. So that's why in
part is sharing all thatinformation with each other,
engaging people like my son, beable to go to different places
go to different parks and moviesand stuff with other people, not
just by himself, or with his,you know, PA or somebody else.
That's important. That'simproving the quality of life.
Right?
Tara Thurber (21:09):
Yes.
Christopher Myers (21:10):
The medical aspects of it, it's improving
the quality of life. And that'sso important today.
Tara Thurber (21:16):
Wow. I mean, I want to know everything and the
vision of moving forward withReAbility, I just, it's
definitely something that is soimportant, and to be able as a
parent to, you don't get a bookon parenting, and then to have a
child with a disability. That'sanother layer of trying to
(21:39):
figure out what to do. So thisaccess it's like gold that
you're providing,
Christopher Myers (21:46):
Right?. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. It's my
thinking is simply this, Tara,is that as a parent, I've been
there. I mean, I've written twobooks about my relationship with
my son.
Tara Thurber (21:56):
Yes.
Christopher Myers (21:57):
It's how do you how do you respond to
something that's just not thesame? When he had four children,
one has special needs, youalways have to think about,
okay, I can think about thecommonality for the three. But
what about for him? He's alwaysneeded something special. And I
feel very blessed. My wife. AndI've said this many times, we
felt like the good Lord gave usTaylor for a reason.
(22:18):
For me to bean advocate, maybe it's for me
Tara Thurber (22:18):
Yep.
to create technology. I don'tknow, maybe it's something else.
But the reality is there a lotof people out there hurting. And
so anything that I can do, frommy point of view, using
technology or advocacy, orwhatever, I'm happy to do it.
Absolutely happy to do it.
I love it. Iabsolutely love it. And I just
(22:39):
anything, it makes the impact.
And the purpose behind it is soimportant.
Christopher Myers (22:46):
Yeah, it totally is. I mean, when you
think about it today, again,some stats for your your viewers
is and listeners, the vastmajority of the states out there
honestly are stretched to theabsolute max, I don't know about
in New Jersey, but in Tennessee,the Medicaid waiver was
something people were basicallylining up and waiting in line,
(23:07):
basically for years. And years.
We waited 12 years to try to getTaylor on the Medicaid waiver
here. And then they lost ourpaperwork.
Tara Thurber (23:14):
Oh my gosh!
Christopher Myers (23:16):
That's so true story. And thankfully, my
wife and I had a contact withsomeone and thankfully, we're
able to get him on. But my pointis, we are the privileged ones.
We really feel that way verystrongly. We're the privileged
ones. There's so many otherfolks out there. So if you can
provide something for them, andit's real time and they can make
some good decisions, hopefully,for their child or adult with
(23:36):
special needs. Hey, you knowwhat? That makes me feel I feel
good. That makes me feel goodfor the day that I've made
something happen for someoneelse.
Tara Thurber (23:44):
Yeah. Wow. Oh, Chris, this year, we are asking
all of our podcast guests todescribe their perfect day. Can
you share what your perfect daywould look like with us?
Christopher Myers (23:57):
Well, it's not gonna be anything that's
snowing (laughs).
Tara Thurber (23:59):
(laughs)
Christopher Myers (23:59):
Sorry for your listeners who love this
snow! Hey, Christmas time andNew Year's Eve, I've always said
go ahead and snow away! Butwe've all experienced that this
past week. All kidding aside.
Honestly, I thought a lot aboutthis, I'd say a perfect day for
me is I wake up, obviously Ifeel blessed that you know, I'm
able to enjoy another day as Icall it another day in the sun.
(24:21):
My children are safe, they'rehappy. My wife is happy and
happy, you know, happy life is ahappy wife.
You know, yougotta be happy that makes it
Tara Thurber (24:30):
(laughs) makes it all worthwhile. But
just the world around us that Ihave actually helped one person,
one person would come up to meand say, You know what, thank
you for the whatever, let's saythe ReAbility platform, I was
able to make a decision for myson or daughter or grandson or
whatever. And then that helpedus and I really, really
(24:51):
appreciate that. That would warmmy heart that would make it a
very special day. You know, allthe other stuff and all the
things that we all have accessto materialize don't really
matter to me. I mean, it'sgreat, I want to have a nice
home and all those things too.
But a perfect day for me is, theworld is so crazy today, being
able to help one more personfind a way to make their lives
(25:13):
just a little bit nicer, alittle bit easier, would
definitely warm my heart forsure.
I love that I amtearing up over here because
it's true. You know, it's beingable to help others or give to
others and just make that impactis so important. So Chris, I
would love for you to share withus your Top5 Ways ReAbility
(25:36):
Serves Individuals and Familieswith disabilities. I know we
touched about a little bit, butlet's dive into your Top5 list.
Christopher Myers (25:44):
I don't know if I have five, maybe have 10.
No, I thinkthat the main ones, honestly,
I'm kidding.
Tara Thurber (25:47):
(laughs) it's real time information,
which no other platform thatI've researched, at least in my
neck of the woods can deliver.
Two is gives you informationabout jobs and programs and
activities specific andcustomized to you it's
personalized, see based on yourprofile? Right? I guess the
(26:09):
third one would be that 10gigabytes of storage. And that's
when we talked about that in2019/20. I thought, Wait, we're
gonna get 10 gigabytes ofstorage for everybody? Yes,
we're gonna do that foreverybody. And that's really
important again, because youthink about, you store some so
much information. It's all verysafe, right? We're all so
worried about, you know, cyberattacks and all that craziness,
(26:30):
which we should. And we want tomake sure our money saving all
our, you know, valuableinformation, say this is the
same. So we said, You know what,let's do it. Let's make sure
that available. So what I thinkgoing forward, I think some of
the other benefits will be whenwe can get some additional
enhancements, those are the keyright now, I would say the
(26:52):
information, that's the programsetc. or the socialization part
is really critical to but theability to add, you know, put
the ReAbility on an app, I wouldlove for it to be on on Android
and iPhone, I'll be candid withyou. We're looking for a
technology partner to help us dothat. I would love to have
ReAbility provide statewideinformation on key legislation.
(27:14):
So let's real quick for thestate of Tennessee. You know,
disability laws here changefairly frequently, usually every
couple of years, regardless ofwho's in the state house, they
change for whatever reason theydo. So you as a parent,
sometimes you could be it's '24.
Maybe I'm thinking about lawsthat were enacted five years
ago, and I'm behind the times.
And now why does that matter? Itmatters because if you don't
(27:37):
have the proper information tosupport a special needs trust or
other information, you could beputting your your child a little
bit at risk financially, as theygo through their life, stuff
like that.
Christopher Myers (27:49):
Here real quick in the necessary to it's
Tara Thurber (27:49):
Yeah.
having information aboutdentists and doctors and lawyers
and financial advisors, youknow, by market, why is that
important? Because respectfullyto all your listeners. I'm not
sure where they live. But herein Memphis, not every lawyer,
not every financial advisor, notevery dentist will take a
special needs child or adultthey won't. Why? Because most of
(28:12):
them, including my son are onTennCare on the equivalent of
you know, Medicaid.
Right.
Christopher Myers (28:16):
And so that they don't want to deal with the
bureaucracy of Medicaid. No, no,no, not the federal government.
No way. No way. You have Cigna,you have Humana and one of these
other players? Absolutely. Hey,we'll take it all day long. But
if you have state funded healthinsurance of No, no, no, no, no.
So I want to be able to providethat not to, you know, call
anybody out, throw him under thebus, candidly, but just to say,
(28:39):
Hey, this is a list of dentists,this is a list of attorneys who
are very sensitive to and wantto work with a special needs
population, there's nothingwrong, so that you, as a parent
know, hey, where can I go?
Instead of just Googling all daylong, I want to be able to go to
a place I know that they'll takemy insurance, or they'll take my
information ect. So things likethat. I mean, those things, and
there are many, many others. Butthat's the value today is you
(29:02):
know, really providing thatinformation in real time.
Tara Thurber (29:07):
I love all of it.
And, you know, it makes sense tohave these types of businesses
readily available, not just socaregivers and parents go
through a deep spiral of tryingto find information, but so that
it's reliable, it's a businessthat somebody else has maybe
(29:27):
used or it's a business that hasbeen a large advocate for people
with disabilities, right? Youdon't know that. And you don't
want to be blindsided by whatmaybe a facade may look like on
a website. And then when youreach out to them, they're just
kind of it's all pretend right?
(29:49):
Or it's not real.
Christopher Myers (29:53):
Yeah, Tara, I totally agree. And it's
interesting for this population.
I mean, you're talking about 60million people.
Tara Thurber (29:59):
Right.
Christopher Myers (29:59):
About almost 20% of the US population has
some. Now I always say that andthat includes dyslexia, which
I'm for your listeners, I'm notdiminishing that at all. It can
be very debilitating. I getthat. But autism and cerebral
palsy and everything on theautism spectrum is totally
different. My son is total careas are most in the area. So you
(30:20):
have this special resource, justhaving access to something that
will help guide you. I thinkit's really important. We can't
answer all the questions for allthe challenges that are out
there. But we can make a dent init right?
Tara Thurber (30:32):
Right.
Christopher Myers (30:32):
We can provide something as a baseline
foundation. And then hopefully,if I find this wonderful
technology partner to help usthis year, would love to make
those enhancements do even more.
That's the name of the game,
Tara Thurber (30:44):
Perfect. Oh, Chris, this has been wonderful.
I really, really appreciate youtaking the time and sharing with
us everything about ReAbility, Ilook forward to sharing this
podcast and the links in yourinformation so people can
contact you directly. It'sreally it's been a pleasure. And
you're doing amazing work andyou're making an impact. So
(31:07):
great job at that.
Christopher Myers (31:08):
Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate
it. Thank you for theopportunity and to your
listeners. I will just say onefinal closing thing for those
who really may be struggling ontheir own or really not sure,
please reach out because I'vehad lots of, hundreds of
conversation of the year withfolks, if I can help you in any
way. I'll be more than happy to.
Tara Thurber (31:29):
You're the best.
Chris, thank you so much again.
Christopher Myers (31:32):
Tara, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Tara Thurber (31:36):
We are DefinedTalent, a DefinedLogic
service coming to you at Top5.
Make it a great day.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Top5 brought to
you by DefinedTalent. We are aresults driven service working
with clients to connect themwith quality talent as well as
working to make an impact withinthe recruiting industry. We talk
straight about today'sprofessional world with real
world professionals, experts inrecruitment, job seekers and
business owners alike. Have aquestion for us. Send it in and
(00:24):
you might spur our nextconversation. I'm Tara Thurber,
co founder and director oftalent partnerships here at
DefineTalent. And joining metoday is Chris Myers, a multi
hat wearing marketer professorand advocate. Hey, Chris, how
are you today?
Christopher Myers (00:42):
I'm doing great, Tara, thanks so much for
having me.
Tara Thurber (00:44):
Awesome. I am so excited to have you on and and
let's just dive in. I knowyou've got an amazing story that
we want to share with ourlisteners. So can you please
start by sharing your personalhistory that led you to where
you are today?
Christopher Myers (00:58):
Sure, thanks.
So I'm the youngest of sevengood Catholic family.
Grew up downin Louisiana and moved to
Tara Thurber (01:03):
(laughs) Memphis when I was young. Five
years old. My father wasPresident of Better Business
Bureau, which is kind of a quasigovernmental agencies support
type of group anyway, and stayedthrough high school, went away
to college, Washington, DC,eventually met my wife there and
then went to graduate school outin Arizona got an MBA in
international marketing. Soalong the way, I started to
(01:25):
think about how can I make animpact? My father really
stressed that in our family, getout there and volunteer as much
as you can do things to help thecommunity around you? His whole
life, his whole career was builton that. So when my wife and I
started a family back in thelate 80s, and into the 90s, we
have now four children, myoldest is now almost 35, hard to
(01:49):
believe. He has his ownbusiness. My son Taylor, who
I'll talk about in just aminute. Then I have my youngest
son Cameron, who's got his owneBay business. Yay, Cameron, and
then my daughter is a graduatestudent, hopefully is going to
be a teacher. She's in theCollege of Education at the
University of Memphis, where Iteach marketing. So my wife is a
proud registered nurse andpostpartum at one of the
(02:11):
hospitals here in Memphis. Sowe're busy bunch. So I guess my
point is how I got to this pointtoday, when Taylor was born,
Taylor is my special one. He'smy pride and joy. He's 32. He
has cerebral palsy, autism andintellectual disability. He
functions about a two year oldlevel with no speech. So he's
constant care.
(02:33):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (02:34):
When he was diagnosed in May of 1992, with
significant developmentaldelays, this was really pretty
much pre internet. My wife and Ijust kind of went into orbit,
like, how are we going tosupport him, because his older
brother was what Iaffectionately called the golden
child.
Tara Thurber (02:49):
(laughs)
Christopher Myers (02:50):
Tristan was born 1989 You know, beautiful
nine& a half pounds, and hedidn't have a cold, he was eight
months old for pete's sake.
Tara Thurber (02:58):
Wow.
Christopher Myers (02:58):
Taylor was the complete opposite. Taylor
had a partially clubfoot. He hadto wear braces, it just a
totally different type of child.
We love him certainly as much asany of our children, but he
needed special care.
Tara Thurber (03:11):
Right.
Christopher Myers (03:12):
So in the early 90s, I'll be very frank
for your listeners, when I was Iwas angry, I was frustrated, I
didn't know why. The good lord,you know, provided a child who,
you know, I thought it was agood person, you know, all these
emotions going through. Andfrankly, my wife said you're not
helping Taylor, you're not,you're not, you need to do
(03:33):
something more, stop with allthe focus on you and focus on
him. So by the mid 90s, whenTaylor was going to some special
programs, I joined several ofthe boards here Memphis. So for
your listeners, I'm in theMemphis, Tennessee area. And the
challenge there was I needed tolearn - learn about the world of
special needs, learn about howstates allocate resources or not
(03:55):
learn about how budgets and allthose issues, wherever your
listeners are, I'm sure theyhave the same issue. All the
states are strugglingfinancially, all of them or I
don't care if you're in New Yorkor California, Texas or
Tennessee, all the rest. They'restruggling because the number of
folks who are in the worldspecial needs is continuing to
(04:15):
grow at a very surprising,almost alarming rate. So for
your listeners, they may notknow there are 60 million people
here in the United States thathave some form of special needs.
Tara Thurber (04:26):
Wow.
Christopher Myers (04:27):
In the state of Tennessee, it's over a
million in my area of theMemphis metropolitan area.
160,000. I will tell youcandidly, as much as I love the
agencies here, they don't nearlysupport anywhere close to what
is needed, including for my son.
Tara Thurber (04:41):
Right.
Christopher Myers (04:42):
Well along the way, I'm basically trying to
find a way to make a differenceon the board and be a good
corporate person to help themwith their budgets. But along
the way, Tara, it was veryapparent to me, I need to engage
in a totally different way.
Tara Thurber (04:56):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (04:56):
I need to be part of the community in a
totally different way. So,through a lot of just kind of
trial and error and whatnot Idecided to be a part of other
types of activities andagencies. And then eventually, I
made my way to, which I thinkwe're going to talk about here
in a minute, the ReAbilityplatform idea, what else can I
(05:18):
do? I can't change the fact thatmy son functions at a two year
old level, but I can helpimprove the quality of life.
Right? And what can you do tomake that happen? information?
Knowledge is power, as we allknow, can you provide
information in real time thatcan truly make a difference in
that those parents, caregivers,grandparents, whomever, can make
(05:39):
good, hopefully good qualityjudgment decisions about the
future of their child, right?
Tara Thurber (05:44):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (05:44):
So that doesn't exist. At least in my
state it doesn't exist. Thereare a lot of folks out there
that pop on the web, and they'lllook at a particular site. But
those are all static. Theydon't, they don't really change.
Tara Thurber (05:55):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (05:55):
And they're, and they're not permission
based, and they're notcustomized. So you can look up a
particular agency focused onautism, that's great. But unless
that agency changes itsprogramming or add something
else to it, it's exactly thesame. So from a parent's point
of view, that doesn't reallyhelp me.
Tara Thurber (06:12):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (06:13):
I need to know what else is out there so
that I can plan ahead, planningso that I can make good
decisions on behalf of my son.
So yeah, that's kind of thegenesis so those early years
with Taylor, honestly, I was nota good dad, I'll be the first to
admit I wasn't, I was angry atthe world and angry at
everything. And my wife's like,you got to do better, you're not
(06:33):
helping.
Tara Thurber (06:35):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (06:35):
So it really was an epiphany moment.
Tara Thurber (06:38):
Wow.
Christopher Myers (06:39):
Yeah, so that's kind of the backdrop. And
along the way, you know, it'sbeing a good marketer for
various corporations in otherplaces. I'm also a professor of
marketing at the University ofMemphis, I do marketing,
consulting, I do a lot ofdifferent things. I'm a writer,
11-time writer. Butfundamentally, this is what I'm
passionate about is reallygiving back to the community
because I think it's just in myDNA, from my upbringing, that my
(07:03):
father really instilled that inall of us, you have to give
back. There's so many people outthere struggling, what can you
do to help them and not justwriting checks, be a part of the
solution, not just writing acheck and walking away? That
doesn't solve anything. It'sgreat, but it doesn't solve the
problem.
Tara Thurber (07:19):
Agree 1,000,000%.
You need to join together andbring the forces together so
that it's not just anindividual, it's it's a oneness.
It's everybody coming togetherto make a difference.
Christopher Myers (07:31):
Yeah, absolutely. And it's hard. I
mean, I'll be the first admit, Imean, I didn't really know how
to be a great advocate. What arethe guidelines? Where's the book
that tells you how to do this?
Tara Thurber (07:45):
(laughs) The Book of Life or The Book of
Partenting.
Christopher Myers (07:47):
Yeah, The Book of Life. Yeah, exactly. You
know, it's like, how do youfigure out it's like, being a
parent, you know, so I knowyou're a proud parent to Tara,
as I am.
Tara Thurber (07:55):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (07:56):
Where's the book about being a parent? There
isn't one a lot of it'sinstinctive. And so in this
case, though, but there areother people that are involved.
In other words, supporting otherfamilies, many of whom I will
never meet, and advocating forthem. That's a totally different
level. Because now you're sayingI'm looking at the big macro
level type issues for mycommunity. We're in desperate I
know, we'll talk about we're indesperate need of de center
(08:18):
programs for those young folkswho aged out of the school
system. I'm not sure about yourstate of New Jersey, been in
Tennessee, it's at 22 at 22, thestate boots you out, you're
gone. You gotta go, wherever youare. In your birthday. My son's
birthday is in April. So by thetime he graduated in May, he was
he was gone from the school, nomatter what, you got to find a
(08:38):
way you know, Chris, and Susie,my wife's name is Susie Chris
and Susie Meyers, you gotta finda way for your son Taylor. By,
thankfully, because we were bothadvocates, and you know, a lot
of it on me, I was able to finda program where we'll build
something for him, but it'sstill anyway, it's still very
tenuous, there still needs to beso much more than is out there
Tara Thurber (08:58):
You know, I was doing some research, and there's
so much more.
a statistic from October 2023.
That says 90% of websites areinaccessible to people with
disabilities who rely onassistive technology. So for our
listeners, can you explain to uswhat makes a website
inaccessible? And then I'm gonnastack a question here, What are
(09:22):
some ways websites can adapt tobecome accessible?
Christopher Myers (09:28):
Sure. So for my own personal research, that's
a great question. I've had thisquestion asked to me before. Is
the platform that we're going totalk about a minute, is that
accessible? And answer is yes.
Fundamentally, you know, whenwhen websites are built by any
company, including the one thatI work for, no one honestly
thinks about ADA, the AmericanDisabilities Act.
(09:49):
No one reallythinks about enlarging letters
Tara Thurber (09:49):
Yep.
and keys and stuff on keyboardsand when all those types of
things, the images that are on,on screens and whatnot. So some
images for some autisticchildren and adults, for
example, Tara, are notnecessarily offensive, but they
can be alarming because thoseimages can be bright colors and
(10:11):
very loud and things that arecoming at them can be extremely
distracting and alsodebilitating. So I think what
has happened, and again, lovetechnology out there and people
building the newest, coolestthing. AI is out there, and
everybody's talking about it.
But the reality is for thispopulation, those websites are
out there honestly, are notaccessible because they didn't
really think about how do I makethe keys bigger? How do I make
(10:34):
the font bigger? How do we makethis more conducive to their
needs, as opposed to just makeit standard for everybody?
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (10:43):
So you can go on any website at any point in
time. Google this and Googlethat that's not a problem, this
population, you have to take astep back, take a deep breath,
and like, okay, can they reallyconnect with what the
information is being shown anduse the platform and tools the
way it's supposed to be done?
Chances are probably not.
Tara Thurber (11:01):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (11:01):
And that's really sad.
Tara Thurber (11:02):
It is sad. It is sad. And I know I mean, in my
industry, digital accessibilityhas been really huge. I mean,
our sister company fromDefinedTalent is DefinedLogic
and they're a digital productagency. And they have a specific
accessibility team that willhelp clients to make sure that
their websites are digitallyaccessible, but it's a long
(11:26):
road. I think it's a long road,I still don't think it's out
there are enough in the public,for businesses and people that
are creating these websites tounderstand and so it's as a
creative myself it starts withthe idea, but then you need to
(11:48):
make that idea accessible toeverybody to right? If you want
to put that out there. And withthe internet and everything else
that we're dealing with, it isso important to make sure it is
all accessible for people acrossall spectrums.
Christopher Myers (12:07):
Correct.
Absolutely. I mean, think aboutlet's go back in time, 30-40
years, so the when the PresidentGeorge HW Bush got the ADA and
put it into motion intolegislation enacted, how many
years did it take forbusinesses, organizations to get
ramps for wheelchairs to do allthe bathrooms and all the things
that so many grumbled, oh, mygosh, you know, this guy is
(12:29):
going to fall because businessis going to shut down, he asked
us to do too much. We'respending too much blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah. Still today,in 2024, I would bet you if you,
if I go out in the Memphis area,there gonna be some businesses
that didn't do what they'resupposed to do and shame on them
for not.
Tara Thurber (12:45):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (12:45):
So the technology end of it. It's it's
a lagging kind of indicator, Ithink it's going to take time
for to get. And now again, withAI, it's going to be
accelerated, I can only hope andpray that these organizations do
the right thing.
Tara Thurber (12:59):
Yeah, I agree. So let's dive into the biggest
reason on why we're here today.
And its ReAbility, let's diveinto why ReAbility was created
the population it serves andsome of the core functionalities
of it.
Christopher Myers (13:15):
Sure. So, back during the Great Recession,
I had this kind of epiphanymoment people talk about writing
things on the back of a napkin,right?
I was havinglunch one day here in Cairo,
Tara Thurber (13:25):
(laughs) which is a suburb of Memphis,
with some friends from aconsulting firm. And I was
president of a board, anonprofit board at that time,
and I said, you know, what I'vedone a pretty good job of
keeping track of all the budgetsand all that, but there's still
something missing. What else canwe do to help these families?
And I frequently get lots offamilies that come up to me,
(13:46):
call me Text me, email me,whatever, Chris, you're an
advocate, what are you doing?
What's happening in the world?
Why can't we have something ofyou know, of technology,
whatever? So I had this idea.
What if we had a real timeinformation platform that
provided information to youbased on a customized profile?
You could log in, you canregister, you can put in some
(14:10):
keywords, and when theseagencies around the country have
a change in their programming,let's say for a job or for
social events or something else,you would get an email or text
alert. And so the people theconsulting firm kind of looked
at me like I had two heads(laughs).
(laughs)
Christopher Myers (14:27):
At that time in May 2010, Google I think was
here, but I don't certainly notto level it is today. So the
thought was, hey, we need tohave this platform. So one thing
led to another as a goodmarketer, that I hope that I am.
I know I needed to have researchdone. So I found a professor at
the University of Memphis hername is Dr. Susan Neely Barnes,
(14:48):
as I affectionately call her mysecond favorite Susan, my wife's
name is Susan.
Tara Thurber (14:52):
Right (laughs).
Christopher Myers (14:53):
And I did quantitative research. So for
those listeners out there,they'll appreciate that
statistically as a valid samplehere in the state of Tennessee
and it said 81% of the peoplesaid, You know what, we love
this idea of this real timeplatform. That's great. Chris,
go and build it. And some evensaid, You know what, hey, if you
build it and if we can get yourhelp to build customized plans
(15:15):
for us, because we don't knowwhat we're doing for our child,
hey, yeah, they X amount ofmoney. Not that great. Hey, I
hit a home run. Okay, now what?
Well, now you got to build apilot program. Okay, so I found
some other folks here locally inthe Memphis area to do that.
Unfortunately, the technology,honestly, Tara, was pretty
clunky. It was it was not verygood. When you had to have 18
minute video to explain what itis, oh my gosh (laughs).
Tara Thurber (15:38):
(laughs)
Christopher Myers (15:40):
So no offense to that person, delightful woman
to you know, a brillianttechnology person, but she
totally missed the mark. So Igot discouraged a little bit.
Kept my faith going and say,There's got to be another way I
am not going to let go this.
People want this to happen. Soin March of 2019, literally on
the web, I found a foundationdown in Naples, Florida, called
(16:02):
Dreamscape. And as it turnedout, the executive director took
my call on a Friday afternoon,as the story goes, and explained
who I was. And he didn't know mefrom Adams, like, Who is this
guy calling from Memphis? So onething led to another, I sent him
my research and said, I need apartner, I need someone to help
me build this platform, can youhelp me? So I flew down to
(16:22):
Naples. A few weeks later, wesigned an agreement and we found
this IT consulting firm in NewDelhi, India called ISK Pro,
about a year later, in July,just after July 4, 2020, we
launched ReAbility.
So thefeatures of it are again, you
Tara Thurber (16:39):
Wow.
log in, you register, you putsome keywords in about things
that you're interested in foryourself, if you're able to
cognitively or your loved one,let's say you're interested in
dance classes, or you'reinterested in going to movies,
or whatever the case may be myson, Taylor loves to play with
(17:02):
balls. So, always use theexample of Hey, Chris, what if
there's a ball camp in Jackson,Tennessee, which is a city about
an hour away from me, east ofme, you know, in dollars, click
on this link, there you go. Andyou say, Well, gee, I could find
that anytime, then notnecessarily that program, that
activity would come to you, wewould come to you in an email or
(17:23):
text alert. That way, again, youcan plan ahead. So the purpose,
really is twofold of why Icreated ReAbility. One is
honestly to give hope forparents that there is something
other than the static websitesout there. And two is that you
can have real time informationso that you can make those good
decisions on behalf of yourloved one. And the other really
(17:43):
cool feature of the site is it'sgot 10 gigabytes of storage, per
person. So what is the as thatmatter? Well, if you're a person
listening to this podcast, ifyou've had any kind of medical
reports, or some of these otherthings, for your loved one, we
had binders and binders I'membarrassed to say this, Tara,
on your podcast but we hadbinders and binders of
(18:06):
handwritten notes from one ofhis caregivers, handwritten
notes, not going to Acrobat, youknow, Adobe, PDF, handwritten
notes, God forbid, if we everhad a fire (laughs). All those
things are original. So that hasstorage capability. So it's
password protected andencrypted. So if you wanted to
put your doctor's notes, yourmedical notes, notes from your
(18:28):
teacher, or whatever it might befor your child or adult with
special needs, you can safely doit in your profile, and on the
site. So yeah, that's reallycool. And so all those features,
and so many others, and maybewe'll talk about some things
that I would love to see to beenhanced by, but that's why the
site is out there. The targetaudience simply is, honestly,
(18:49):
any agency that wants to be apart of it. There's 50, today
across the country, we startedwith three now we have 350.
Wow.
Christopher Myers (18:59):
And then two, it's all the individuals,
parents, their loved one, thecenter, those are the people I
really want to see use the sitemuch more so that they can go in
and connect with others. Thispopulation unfortunately, some
of the agencies don't play wellin the sandbox, honestly,
they're very focused on theirown mission. So this is
(19:20):
hopefully opening doors for themto collaborate with each other
locally or frankly nationallyabout other challenges and other
issues. If I can tell real quickstory.
Tara Thurber (19:29):
Please.
Christopher Myers (19:29):
There's a lady that I chatted with
yesterday, he started at a placecalled Harbor House in
Louisville, Kentucky. Absolutelyphenomenal place. And she just
said you know what, Chris?
Almost 30 years ago I had thisvision to and I wanted to have
something better for the adultsin our area where they could go
now she has over 200 adults thatare there and it's a wonderful,
incredible place.
(19:53):
It's justwarms your heart when you hear
Tara Thurber (19:53):
Wow.
about these great stories ofpeople using technology and
using you know vision of wherethey want to go. And so that's
why I created it. I'm so veryproud of it. And I love the
folks at Dreamscape, you know,for what they did to help,
hopefully we'll talk about in aminute that where it needs to
go. But yeah, 60 million peopleacross the US who have special
(20:14):
needs. So if I can help everysingle one, I would love to, you
know (laughs) I really would!It's so amazing
and how it can bring peopletogether to just provide
information and a community forsupport.
Christopher Myers (20:29):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, especially the
social networking is an areawe're really going to focus on
this year, because thispopulation, your viewers may
know, is, unfortunately,probably at the bottom as far as
connection, but other they don'treally have a lot of friends.
Tara Thurber (20:46):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (20:47):
Unfortunately for that, that leads to boredom
leads to lethargy.
Tara Thurber (20:50):
Yeah.
Christopher Myers (20:51):
It leads to have a problem. So that's why in
part is sharing all thatinformation with each other,
engaging people like my son, beable to go to different places
go to different parks and moviesand stuff with other people, not
just by himself, or with his,you know, PA or somebody else.
That's important. That'simproving the quality of life.
Right?
Tara Thurber (21:09):
Yes.
Christopher Myers (21:10):
The medical aspects of it, it's improving
the quality of life. And that'sso important today.
Tara Thurber (21:16):
Wow. I mean, I want to know everything and the
vision of moving forward withReAbility, I just, it's
definitely something that is soimportant, and to be able as a
parent to, you don't get a bookon parenting, and then to have a
child with a disability. That'sanother layer of trying to
(21:39):
figure out what to do. So thisaccess it's like gold that
you're providing,
Christopher Myers (21:46):
Right?. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. It's my
thinking is simply this, Tara,is that as a parent, I've been
there. I mean, I've written twobooks about my relationship with
my son.
Tara Thurber (21:56):
Yes.
Christopher Myers (21:57):
It's how do you how do you respond to
something that's just not thesame? When he had four children,
one has special needs, youalways have to think about,
okay, I can think about thecommonality for the three. But
what about for him? He's alwaysneeded something special. And I
feel very blessed. My wife. AndI've said this many times, we
felt like the good Lord gave usTaylor for a reason.
(22:18):
For me to bean advocate, maybe it's for me
Tara Thurber (22:18):
Yep.
to create technology. I don'tknow, maybe it's something else.
But the reality is there a lotof people out there hurting. And
so anything that I can do, frommy point of view, using
technology or advocacy, orwhatever, I'm happy to do it.
Absolutely happy to do it.
I love it. Iabsolutely love it. And I just
(22:39):
anything, it makes the impact.
And the purpose behind it is soimportant.
Christopher Myers (22:46):
Yeah, it totally is. I mean, when you
think about it today, again,some stats for your your viewers
is and listeners, the vastmajority of the states out there
honestly are stretched to theabsolute max, I don't know about
in New Jersey, but in Tennessee,the Medicaid waiver was
something people were basicallylining up and waiting in line,
(23:07):
basically for years. And years.
We waited 12 years to try to getTaylor on the Medicaid waiver
here. And then they lost ourpaperwork.
Tara Thurber (23:14):
Oh my gosh!
Christopher Myers (23:16):
That's so true story. And thankfully, my
wife and I had a contact withsomeone and thankfully, we're
able to get him on. But my pointis, we are the privileged ones.
We really feel that way verystrongly. We're the privileged
ones. There's so many otherfolks out there. So if you can
provide something for them, andit's real time and they can make
some good decisions, hopefully,for their child or adult with
(23:36):
special needs. Hey, you knowwhat? That makes me feel I feel
good. That makes me feel goodfor the day that I've made
something happen for someoneelse.
Tara Thurber (23:44):
Yeah. Wow. Oh, Chris, this year, we are asking
all of our podcast guests todescribe their perfect day. Can
you share what your perfect daywould look like with us?
Christopher Myers (23:57):
Well, it's not gonna be anything that's
snowing (laughs).
Tara Thurber (23:59):
(laughs)
Christopher Myers (23:59):
Sorry for your listeners who love this
snow! Hey, Christmas time andNew Year's Eve, I've always said
go ahead and snow away! Butwe've all experienced that this
past week. All kidding aside.
Honestly, I thought a lot aboutthis, I'd say a perfect day for
me is I wake up, obviously Ifeel blessed that you know, I'm
able to enjoy another day as Icall it another day in the sun.
(24:21):
My children are safe, they'rehappy. My wife is happy and
happy, you know, happy life is ahappy wife.
You know, yougotta be happy that makes it
Tara Thurber (24:30):
(laughs) makes it all worthwhile. But
just the world around us that Ihave actually helped one person,
one person would come up to meand say, You know what, thank
you for the whatever, let's saythe ReAbility platform, I was
able to make a decision for myson or daughter or grandson or
whatever. And then that helpedus and I really, really
(24:51):
appreciate that. That would warmmy heart that would make it a
very special day. You know, allthe other stuff and all the
things that we all have accessto materialize don't really
matter to me. I mean, it'sgreat, I want to have a nice
home and all those things too.
But a perfect day for me is, theworld is so crazy today, being
able to help one more personfind a way to make their lives
(25:13):
just a little bit nicer, alittle bit easier, would
definitely warm my heart forsure.
I love that I amtearing up over here because
it's true. You know, it's beingable to help others or give to
others and just make that impactis so important. So Chris, I
would love for you to share withus your Top5 Ways ReAbility
(25:36):
Serves Individuals and Familieswith disabilities. I know we
touched about a little bit, butlet's dive into your Top5 list.
Christopher Myers (25:44):
I don't know if I have five, maybe have 10.
No, I thinkthat the main ones, honestly,
I'm kidding.
Tara Thurber (25:47):
(laughs) it's real time information,
which no other platform thatI've researched, at least in my
neck of the woods can deliver.
Two is gives you informationabout jobs and programs and
activities specific andcustomized to you it's
personalized, see based on yourprofile? Right? I guess the
(26:09):
third one would be that 10gigabytes of storage. And that's
when we talked about that in2019/20. I thought, Wait, we're
gonna get 10 gigabytes ofstorage for everybody? Yes,
we're gonna do that foreverybody. And that's really
important again, because youthink about, you store some so
much information. It's all verysafe, right? We're all so
worried about, you know, cyberattacks and all that craziness,
(26:30):
which we should. And we want tomake sure our money saving all
our, you know, valuableinformation, say this is the
same. So we said, You know what,let's do it. Let's make sure
that available. So what I thinkgoing forward, I think some of
the other benefits will be whenwe can get some additional
enhancements, those are the keyright now, I would say the
(26:52):
information, that's the programsetc. or the socialization part
is really critical to but theability to add, you know, put
the ReAbility on an app, I wouldlove for it to be on on Android
and iPhone, I'll be candid withyou. We're looking for a
technology partner to help us dothat. I would love to have
ReAbility provide statewideinformation on key legislation.
(27:14):
So let's real quick for thestate of Tennessee. You know,
disability laws here changefairly frequently, usually every
couple of years, regardless ofwho's in the state house, they
change for whatever reason theydo. So you as a parent,
sometimes you could be it's '24.
Maybe I'm thinking about lawsthat were enacted five years
ago, and I'm behind the times.
And now why does that matter? Itmatters because if you don't
(27:37):
have the proper information tosupport a special needs trust or
other information, you could beputting your your child a little
bit at risk financially, as theygo through their life, stuff
like that.
Christopher Myers (27:49):
Here real quick in the necessary to it's
Tara Thurber (27:49):
Yeah.
having information aboutdentists and doctors and lawyers
and financial advisors, youknow, by market, why is that
important? Because respectfullyto all your listeners. I'm not
sure where they live. But herein Memphis, not every lawyer,
not every financial advisor, notevery dentist will take a
special needs child or adultthey won't. Why? Because most of
(28:12):
them, including my son are onTennCare on the equivalent of
you know, Medicaid.
Right.
Christopher Myers (28:16):
And so that they don't want to deal with the
bureaucracy of Medicaid. No, no,no, not the federal government.
No way. No way. You have Cigna,you have Humana and one of these
other players? Absolutely. Hey,we'll take it all day long. But
if you have state funded healthinsurance of No, no, no, no, no.
So I want to be able to providethat not to, you know, call
anybody out, throw him under thebus, candidly, but just to say,
(28:39):
Hey, this is a list of dentists,this is a list of attorneys who
are very sensitive to and wantto work with a special needs
population, there's nothingwrong, so that you, as a parent
know, hey, where can I go?
Instead of just Googling all daylong, I want to be able to go to
a place I know that they'll takemy insurance, or they'll take my
information ect. So things likethat. I mean, those things, and
there are many, many others. Butthat's the value today is you
(29:02):
know, really providing thatinformation in real time.
Tara Thurber (29:07):
I love all of it.
And, you know, it makes sense tohave these types of businesses
readily available, not just socaregivers and parents go
through a deep spiral of tryingto find information, but so that
it's reliable, it's a businessthat somebody else has maybe
(29:27):
used or it's a business that hasbeen a large advocate for people
with disabilities, right? Youdon't know that. And you don't
want to be blindsided by whatmaybe a facade may look like on
a website. And then when youreach out to them, they're just
kind of it's all pretend right?
(29:49):
Or it's not real.
Christopher Myers (29:53):
Yeah, Tara, I totally agree. And it's
interesting for this population.
I mean, you're talking about 60million people.
Tara Thurber (29:59):
Right.
Christopher Myers (29:59):
About almost 20% of the US population has
some. Now I always say that andthat includes dyslexia, which
I'm for your listeners, I'm notdiminishing that at all. It can
be very debilitating. I getthat. But autism and cerebral
palsy and everything on theautism spectrum is totally
different. My son is total careas are most in the area. So you
(30:20):
have this special resource, justhaving access to something that
will help guide you. I thinkit's really important. We can't
answer all the questions for allthe challenges that are out
there. But we can make a dent init right?
Tara Thurber (30:32):
Right.
Christopher Myers (30:32):
We can provide something as a baseline
foundation. And then hopefully,if I find this wonderful
technology partner to help usthis year, would love to make
those enhancements do even more.
That's the name of the game,
Tara Thurber (30:44):
Perfect. Oh, Chris, this has been wonderful.
I really, really appreciate youtaking the time and sharing with
us everything about ReAbility, Ilook forward to sharing this
podcast and the links in yourinformation so people can
contact you directly. It'sreally it's been a pleasure. And
you're doing amazing work andyou're making an impact. So
(31:07):
great job at that.
Christopher Myers (31:08):
Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate
it. Thank you for theopportunity and to your
listeners. I will just say onefinal closing thing for those
who really may be struggling ontheir own or really not sure,
please reach out because I'vehad lots of, hundreds of
conversation of the year withfolks, if I can help you in any
way. I'll be more than happy to.
Tara Thurber (31:29):
You're the best.
Chris, thank you so much again.
Christopher Myers (31:32):
Tara, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Tara Thurber (31:36):
We are DefinedTalent, a DefinedLogic
service coming to you at Top5.
Make it a great day.
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