January 30, 2024 • 43 mins
This is an encore episode while I focus on my teaching.
This week's guest is Anessa Powell.
It seems the more shows that I do, the more I'm pulled into the much-maligned and severely underrepresented disability community. This episode added fuel to my fire.
Anessa Powell is well ahead of me on this front. I found her to be a warrior when it comes to supporting disabled folks who are searching for a career -- not just a job.
Listening to her talk about her company, AllAbility Recruiting, will rev you up as well. She is passionate about helping employers understand the rules and nuances of the hiring process for those with disabilities while supporting those who need accommodation in the workplace or are better prepared for an interview.
Perhaps the best way to summarize Anessa's work is the trademarked statement found in the header of the AllAbility website: Leave No Ability Behind
Anessa's website is available HERE.
Note: Oftentimes, links are not available on platforms such as Apple, iHeart, etc.. They are available within this episode on our website at https://lifesaroadtrip.podbean.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
you
Being disabled or having a chronic illness canfeel like you're moving forward in reverse.
(00:21):
I'm your host Scott Martin. Join me and my newfriends from this underrepresented community
as we talk about disrupting the status quo andcreating change within the world and within
ourselves. Hey, life's a road trip. Hop in,let's turn on some tunes and go.
(00:56):
Ian, the passenger seated managing the radioon this road trip today is Anessa Powell. Since
being diagnosed in 2013 with Addison's disease,Anessa has been dedicated to raising awareness.
She began sharing her experiences in 2016 andlaunched her social media outreach through
the former pages of Addison's disease with grace.In 2019, her speaking platform was launched
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and AddisonPowell.com was formed. Anessa isknown for the energy she brings when speaking
to women's groups about fostering communityover competition and her compassion in speaking
to those living with a disability. Most recently,she was offered diversity inclusion training
classes and webinars for businesses and organizationsto better serve the disability community in
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all forms. Hi, Anessa. Hi, how are you, Scott?I'm doing well. We've got temperatures. Sue
and I, my wife were just out bopping aroundtown and running some errands and three degrees.
So central Wisconsin, it'd be cold today. We'regetting better person than me. That's why I'm
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in the South. Yeah. Well, I was going to sayyou're, you're in Charlotte. It's such a beautiful
country. I've been over there a couple of times.I mean, wow. Yeah, we'd love it. We love the
city, we love the area. We love being threehours from the beach and two hours from the
mountains. I was gonna say, because I Googledup, all right, so this lady thinks that she
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loves to go to the beach, but isn't Charlotteabout three hours or so from the Atlantic?
It is. How often do you get over there? Well,it's funny, and people laugh at me when I tell
them, actually, the North Carolina beach isnot my favorite. It's the Florida beach is
the Gulf. Okay. And that too. me, our family,that's what we'd love. Going down to Anna Maria
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Island, which is near Sarasota, Bradenton area.And we do get down there at least once a year.
That's our second home. We love that. So everyday I wish I was there. Okay. And you guys,
I did come across a shot with you and your husbandand the two kids. And of course you're on White
Sandy Beach. That's where it was taken. Youname it. That's right. Yeah, okay, cool. Now.
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Along with your husband and those two kids isyour business, AllAbility Recruiting. That's
based in Charlotte. You're the founder and CEO.Please go ahead and fill us in on AllAbility
Recruiting. Well, it's a relatively new companyand we're very excited where we are. We're
about 16 months down the road. We launched inMarch of 2022. No, 2021. That's hard to keep
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up. Things just fly when you get older. Yes,they do. But it's been a wonderful organic
growth and ride as the name is starting to getout and people are starting to understand what
disability employment is and the awareness thatgoes along with that. But it was launched out
of a pure passion for me, just for those withdisabilities, especially those with invisible
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disabilities such as myself, and we'll get tothat later, of just what that means when you
have. gaps in your resume and trying to getback in the workforce and people understanding
who you are. So we initially launched as a recruitmentfirm. And we quickly learned that businesses
want to do the right thing, they just weren'tquite sure where to begin. So that's where
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we created the training piece that we offerthat there's four topics that we cover, ranging
from Disability 101 all the way to the cultureand basically the bottom line and why. people
should care about disability employment andwhat that looks like for their company. And
we've had some great success with that and alot of greater understanding of disability
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employment and honestly what disabilities areand the way that they can present. Most people
are surprised by that, the numbers themselves.And then we'd go through these training sessions
with our clients and they would say, that wasgreat, but now what? Now where do we go? That's
where we launched the consulting piece. Andso we've had some great opportunity to say,
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let us really look at your company's life cycle,the whole approach. We call it that soup to
nuts approach of your employee. Are you awareof when people go to apply for a job, is it
user friendly? Is it, are you on a timer? You'reautomatically alienating a particular disability
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group when you put. a timer for someone who'stried to fill out this application. So we kind
of look at that. That's very, just a brief example.But we go through that whole thing of, okay,
you have the application to the interview, tothe onboarding. Are you supporting them once
they get in there? And through that whole thing,we look, goodness, at everything ranging from
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accessibility from the building itself to thewebsite, and just taking a look. And that's
been really wonderful because oftentimes, businessesare quite scared and they just don't know what
to do. And they're like looking for people totrust. And that's why we feel very excited
about what our feedback has been from thosesessions with our clients and learning that.
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So we kind of have three pillars to our, toour company and it's been going well. So is,
is one of the areas that the employers bringyou in for is that, Hey, could you check us
out and see if we're meeting the rules and regulations?for bringing in folks, not just by having numbers,
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but also are we doing this right? Are we doingthat right? Do we have things set up so we're
not gonna be getting in trouble from any governmentagencies or anything? That's a great question.
You know, we look at it very high level andthat's where we refer people that are. a little
bit more breadth of knowledge with certain things.Accessibility is so huge right now, especially
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for websites, because there is a component tothat where they're trying to be very mindful
of not getting fined because their website'snot accessible, which is new. And so I will
then refer, because we have a great arsenalof references that we can call on and say,
look, I need you to call my friend Lori, whoowns her accessibility company, and she can
really look at it and get into the depth ofwhat we're talking here. But I can just from
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initially, take a look in which we do, Billand I, we just initially can say, okay, cursory
glance, yes, you need to change your font. Andno, you don't have captions on your videos.
And are you, you know, just very high levelstuff. And if they say, okay, how can we do
better? That's when we call in other peopleas well. Oh, now I get it, because that's stuff
that you wouldn't necessarily think of. Andthat's where they have you come in and evaluate.
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So you're looking at it from not just, fromyour eyes, but your eyes as a professional
in helping guide them to look at it from theeyes of a disabled person, so everyone's happy.
Yes. Okay. Yes, and we have candidates thatwill give us feedback and say, because we have
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candidates that are from all walks of life andfrom all disabilities, from- You name it. And
so they can say to us, look, I, you know, thisis not accessible to me or it doesn't fit through
a screen reader. So I don't know what it's saying,or just I'm visually impaired in this particular
font color. I can't see when it's on the page.So hearing the feedback from even our candidates
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themselves give us some great perspective thatwe can then relate to our clients. I'll bet.
So I'm on the website right now. And for example,the clients come in and they... they get a
more of an idea of what they're supposed tobe doing. Of course, they're going to be reaching
out to you for you to come in and they're payingyou to give them some direction. What about
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from the candidate's perspective? I see jobseekers and I will go in right now and I will
click on candidates, uh, job seekers. And whatcomes up is current job openings and people
can fill out a form and there's a list. Nowthese, all these jobs happen to be, I've got
to look at Concord, North Carolina, Winston-Salem.Asheville and Charlotte. So you have quite
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a few on here. They're all North Carolina. Sowhat percentage do you think that you're set
up to help the candidates or the job seekers?And how do you think that weighs towards the
clients and the employers? Where's your focus?Great question. Yes. So when we launched the
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company, it was one of those things, Scott,where we were like, okay, we're going to throw
this big net out and we weren't sure what wewere going to catch, right? It came from our
networks and just people that we knew locallywithin the North Carolina region. We were very
thankful for our first clients, one of thosebeing a retirement homes community. So so many
of those opportunities are from them, whichwe're so thankful for. And then we have another
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couple of other clients on there with some otheropportunities as well. It just so happens that
we have them in the North Carolina area. Andhowever, interestingly enough, our candidates
are from all over the country that are seekingopportunities. Most of our candidates are wanting
remote work. And so we are working very hardto bring on new clients that can offer opportunities
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across the country. We're in talks with a fewcompanies now that one of them being in California.
So we have the opportunity to fill roles wherever,um, within the country based upon the candidates
that we do have. And if, honestly, if you'relistening to this and you own a company and
you want to do that, call me, because I havesome amazing candidates out there that are
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chomping at the bit to honestly work for a companythat truly recognizes. the gifts that they
can bring to the table. They just might needa slight accommodation. You know, I have one
candidate that she's phenomenal. Her backgroundjust blows me away. She does need to work remotely
due to some pain and some chronic issues thatshe has. And she's not great in the morning,
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in full disclosure. That's not something thatshe's great at, working and being a strong
leader in the morning. But my goodness, by twoo'clock, she is rocking it. So if she can have
a little, you know, lead way from that and say,look, you can get your work done just as long
as you get it done. She's going to be an amazingemployee for you. And she just wants to have
the opportunity to have someone recognize that.So just have such wonderful people out there
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that just need a chance, truly. How deep areyou getting in discussions with these folks?
Because it sounds like you're taking them allas individuals and you're pitching for them
and letting it be known. My gosh, how many hoursare you putting into this? That's exactly what
we do. Wow. Well, when we built this company,that was one thing I was very mindful of. I
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was, I, when I said, okay, we're going to dothis. And unfortunately, recruiters get a bad
name in this, in this industry, because theyghost people quite often. And it's terrible.
I was adamant that is one thing that that weabsolutely will not do. If you send us your
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information, because we do have a button atthe top of that website that says, see something,
you know, if you see something that doesn'tfit your background, send us your resume, you
know, something along those lines, I think itsays. So you can just send us your general
resume, even though we may not have a job postingcurrently. And we've had a lot of candidates
that do that because they're just excited, honestly,to have someone that can talk to them and speak
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to their disability, honestly. And we do, wespeak to every single candidate if you're within
America. We've had a lot of international peoplereach out to us, unfortunately. We're not at
that capacity yet. We really would love to dointernational roles in the future. We're getting
there. But currently, if you are within Americaand you send us your information, we talk to
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every single one. And we do treat them as anextension of our family because that's what
we believe in. We believe that you are worthy.You have a voice. And let me tell you, I have
heard the most incredible stories. And it'sjust Bill and I all the time, we hang up with
our candidates and we look at each other andwe're like, this is why we're doing what we're
doing. Because people want to feel heard andthey want to feel valued. And when you can
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have an honest conversation with someone abouttheir disability, without any stigma, without
any judgment, I can't tell you how far thatgoes. And we always encourage our candidates
to be honest with us. and tell us how they arefeeling and tell us what accommodations they
may need, if any. And some of ours don't evenneed any. And just so I can be their voice.
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So when I present them to a client and I say,this is this candidate that I have, the background
fits very nicely. And let me tell you how amazingthey're going to be for you. They may need
a slight accommodation, but let me tell you,if I'm already talking with this client, they
already know that might be an opportunity andthey are going to be prepared for it because
I prepared them accordingly. especially if there'ssomeone that has gone through our training
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or through our consulting, they know how todo this. So it's, I love having the chance
to be a voice for sometimes it's always beena voice that's never been heard. This sounds
like something that is so simple. Why didn't,is it being done very, very much? It sounds,
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duh. Is there anyone else doing this? Okay,good. will tell you, yes, there are others
out there. And I there's some that are moretechnology driven, more of a platform, but
we're definitely and you'll see that all overour website where we come from the people we
come where people driven. And that's very importantto me. I don't view our candidates as a number.
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They are people I can look at them and talkand speak to who they are and the type of honestly,
the type of employee that they are desiringto be. So who's, how are you making your money?
Who's paying you? Is it, it's gotta be, it'sgotta be the employer. Why not? Yes. You can't
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be doing it just for the goodness of your heart,even though you feel great every day, I know.
I mean, it's a company. I know, if only thatpaid the bills, right? Yeah. We are... We operate
very much like a traditional recruitment firm.So we get a percentage of the salary of when
we make a placement. Yes. And then we do fromour training and then our consulting as well.
But you know, the main thing here, and I say,I'm picking up is I studied you a little bit,
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but, um, I'm pretty amazed at how much you'regiving. I could sense it from how you're speaking
that you, you give a damn. And, uh, if I hadan applause button here, I would be pressing
it. Oh, thank you. It needs to be done. Allright. Next question I have for you though
is, what's the incentive for these employersto hire disabled workers? Oh my goodness. That's
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a great question. So, you know, when... in thisday and time, and I feel like sometimes now
this word is being over used unfortunately,but in this day and time of diversity, equity
and inclusion. Our big thing is to our clientsand to anybody that has a company that has
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employees that when you say that you are committedto true inclusivity or true diversity or anything
along those lines, and you're not includingthe largest minority group in the world, then
you are. You are not doing that. That's somethingI learned recently, how big, since I got into
this, oh my God. And the money that supportsthat, that why people aren't respecting the
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disabled community more, in that the money thatthe disabled community puts towards buying
products and things. So I'm learning a lot fromjust getting started in this. Yes. And I'm
so glad you are because people like you whoare doing stuff like this, like podcasts and
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doing the information, then the word is startingto spread and people are starting to understand.
And in this time now, finally, I feel like we'refinally getting to a place where companies
are starting to take notice. And they're like,oh, okay, well maybe I should start talking
about this. And wait a minute, you mean onein four people in my company have a disability
and I don't even know it? You know, that's theaverage statistic. And for people to be able
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to feel comfortable to disclose now and say,yes, I'm one of that one in four, it's vital
to your bottom line. Because if they don't feelvalued and this is what's happening now, people
are leaving. And companies are kind of backpedaling,like, wait a minute, what are we missing here?
Why is this happening? Well, because you haven'tcreated a culture where it's important. for
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them to fill themselves where they feel valued.They're not going to feel like they're going
to be overlooked for a promotion because theyjust told you that they are dealing with a
particular condition, you know, you name it.So the numbers are there and the numbers show,
and this is what we tell to people is that whenyou are a company that employs people with
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disabilities, the favorability factors throughthe roof, people will... patron of business
if they know you employ people with disabilities.I mean, I can give you certain examples throughout
the country of companies and businesses thatpeople will go to and they're like, yeah, it's
because they're awesome. They support theiremployees. They support their employers. They're,
I mean, they're workers. So yes, the time isright for people to understand and to learn
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how to do it properly. Well, one of the thingsI will say is that the disabled community is
a very quiet community as well. And it goeswith what you were just saying. You think?
That things are changing. That's what I've noticed.Hey, I'm only doing this because I have a book
that I had two different agents not be ableto sell because every time they went to publishers,
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the publishers would say, great story, but Scottneeds a platform. So, okay, I'm doing this.
That's open and honest. That's why I'm doingit. But I've gotten into this now so far. That
holy cow, it is a quiet community. That's whatI'm learning. As I'm talking to more people
though, it's really stirring up more insideof me to fight a little bit. I grew up in the
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times of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King.So I'm a rah kind of guy. Hey, let's fight
for some rights. And what I'm hearing from youis, yeah, you go girl, because that's what
you're doing. Is telling people you need todo this from both sides. You're in the middle.
and you need to do it for both sides. But being,going from there, saying that you're in the
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middle line of both sides, let's be honest about,what about discrimination? I've been discriminated
against in jobs. I used to coach college soccerat a nationally ranked program and stuff. I've
been discriminated against ever since I becamehandicap. I see it all the time. It's ridiculous.
So what, how often do you have to remind employersabout you can't be discriminating? And also
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about, What are you hearing from potential employeesabout being discriminated against? Yeah. So
our candidates tell us these stories all thetime, which just, to your point, just fires
me up to no end because they only see the disability.They don't see the person. And, you know, I
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have an invisible disability, so I have a littlebit different perspective, but I just, just
some of some of these stories will just breakyour heart. So that part of it just reinforces
what we do. And then from the client side, Ido have the fortune of working with some really
incredible people from our clients that arein HR, so they know the right terminology and
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what they can ask and what they can't ask. Andso the beauty of being a recruiter, what I
do is that I can talk about their disabilityto them if I have permission from my candidate.
and really just have the opportunity to sharewho they are and just any accommodations, like
I said, that they may need. Whereas, you know,when you go in for the interview, you're not
allowed to ask about a person's disability,honestly. You're only supposed to ask about
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the accommodations that they may need. And oftentimes,unless you mark that box, Yes, I have a disability,
those conversations are never had. But you know,there are lots of people that don't want to
disclose because of the discrimination thatthey had in the past, which is so incredibly
frustrating. And we're trying to change that,you know, one placement at a time. Yeah. I
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want to close out talking about AllAbility.And first of all, I mentioned to the listeners
that, of course, there'll be a link to AllAbility'swebsite on the Life's a Road Trip website.
But I want to leave one thing that's on everysingle page on your website. Leave no ability
behind. And you have that trademarked. Leaveno ability behind. Bravo. I think that says,
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I hope you're very proud about having that onthere because again, you give a damn. And someone's
got to, and it's got to start someplace. SoI know every day you probably go home and frustrated
at times, but then there are also times whenit's, you bet we did something. So that's great.
All right. Let's take a slight turn and discussyou as a speaker. And this is talking about
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your personal website. And that link is gonnabe on the Life's a Road Trip website as well.
On there are two short videos. You're discussinga couple of topics. First of all, before I
get into that, and I say, how the heck are yougetting time to do this because you care so
much about what you're doing with AllAbility.How were you, oh yeah, that's right. And you
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have two kids, huh? Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. Allright. I guess that might be for a personal
therapist or something on how the heck you'reable to make all of that work. But it sounds
like you're making it work. Are you doing muchspeaking? Anything on that? Or you just really
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have to be focused on all ability? How muchare you able to get out?
That was my way of speaking about my diseaseand living with my condition and just really
spreading awareness. But also it grew into thissupport for others as to how to really manage
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the road of diagnosis and after diagnosis andall that fun stuff that comes with that. So
when people call now to ask me to speak, it'sdefinitely for all ability recruiting and talking.
along the lines of disability inclusion andwhat that looks like. And I love that, I absolutely
do, because when I see people's faces, afterI share with them the numbers, like the one
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in four people, and have a disability, and thenumbers globally, and what's the largest makeup
of the invisible disability population, andall of that. I love being able to speak to
that. So it's definitely morphed over the yearsas to where my path is going. Yeah, I can imagine.
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It's like going to college with one idea andwithin the freshman year, you end up switching
your major. I've done that. I hear about itall the time. Exactly. So yeah, I mean, that's
a lot. Well, that's what life is and kind ofgoes along with the name of the show, Life's
a Road Trip. There you go. One of your shortvideos again is something you must get behind.
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And the title of that video is Women Need aTribe. I assume that's a topic for your speaking
engagements and the in that people need to goon there and watch it. Even though it's short,
you can just tell something's inside of you,you want to just get behind this. So again,
the title of that is Women Need a Tribe. Couldyou talk about that little video, please? Sure,
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and I know like tribe, that word is not as PCas it used to be. So please note it was not
from a place of misuse. It was just, that waslike the buzzword at the time when I filmed
that video. It's just mainly having that supportthat what that looks like. You know, when I
was diagnosed, it, it was an arduous road togetting diagnosed. But then when I finally
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was just having that support system that I hadfrom my friends and from my family and my just
my community was so vital to me. And I thinkthe thing that just bothers me most is for
people to feel like they're alone in this world,truly. And it just, I don't want anyone to
feel like they're alone, especially if you aresomeone that is battling something or someone
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that has, you know, just not an easy, not aneasy way to go. And it's something that I want
people to know that there are opportunitiesout there. You just have to find them to find
your community. That's great. Again, it showshow much you care. You're good. No, seriously,
you're a good person because it comes throughand everyone's gonna be hearing this and they're
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going to get, you're a good person because youcare. The second short video is titled, uh,
but you don't look sick. Now, in that videoyou touch on your disability, which is Addison's
disease, which is a rare autoimmune disease.Tell us about Addison's please and go into
that. Sure. So I did that video, but you don'tlook sick. Cause it is very personal to me.
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And I will say backing up though, my first introductioninto that world was my dad. My dad was in a
car crash. He was hit by a drunk driver whenI was 10 years old and sustained a traumatic
brain injury, a TBI. And that was my first introductioninto that world of look fine on the outside,
but you aren't on the inside. And my world wasforever changed that night of the accident
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because he was never the same again. And itis not lost on me now, the irony, that I too
now have an invisible disability with Addison's.I was diagnosed 10 years ago, almost to the
date, Scott, believe it or not, with this diseaseand it's a rare autoimmune condition. So it
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falls into two categories, the autoimmune sideand then the rare disease side. So my body
decided after the birth of my second child,my son, actually my first child, my daughter
was born, then my thyroid went out, which isautoimmune Hashimoto's. And then after my son
was born, I started developing all of theseweird symptoms and eventually was diagnosed
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with Addison's in 2013. And that's where mybody decided to attack my adrenal glands, which
was just so much fun. Especially when you'resomeone who doesn't have a science background.
I didn't even know I had adrenal glands. Sowhen you find out they no longer work, you're
like, what is happening? But it is a rare disease.It's one in 100,000 people are diagnosed with
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it. It's very hard to get diagnosed because,as I quickly learned after diagnosis, is that
my symptoms for so many years could mean hundredsof different things, but finally when you put
them all together, they figured it out. Andessentially my body went into crisis and I
wound up in the hospital. It took them 11 daysto finally figure out what was happening with
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me. And it was a very scary time because I wasso sick. And they ran a thousand different
tests. And finally, finally they figured itout. And I was so very thankful to finally
have a name for my suffering for so many years.And my life was forever changed because now
with Addison's you basically take medicine whichis a steroid to live. And without that medicine,
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it will end very quickly for me sadly. So- Whenyou are diagnosed with something rare, you
are oftentimes the only person that knows aboutit, even in a room full of medical professionals.
So I threw myself into research. I threw myselfinto educating myself, went on every board
out there on Facebook, you name it and readjust everything and soaked it up because I
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was absolutely determined to have a full life.And I didn't know what that was gonna look
like and I didn't know how I was gonna do it,but I was determined to do it. Okay. That's
what Google is for. Yeah. Be able to researchGoogle. Oh my goodness. When you, you know,
are Googling Addison's, there's not a lot ofinformation out there. That's the sad part
too. So that's why I had to kind of really gointo the depths of certain things and just
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figure it out. And then, and that's where thenetworking began. And that's where I started
sharing my story because I thought, you knowwhat, I don't want anybody else having to be
scared and feel like that. this is a scary diagnosisor I mean, it's definitely a life changing
one, but it shouldn't be scary for you becauseyou can live a full life. You just have to
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learn to manage it properly. And that meanslistening to your body, taking your medication
at the right time, never missing a dose, takingmore when you are sick or injured and just,
and really working very closely with your endocrinologiston what that life means for you. And unfortunately,
not a lot of endocrinologists are aware of thisdisease understanding. They know what it is,
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but it's, it is not something that is very common.And so you have to make sure you find someone
who's very knowledgeable about it. And I'm veryfortunate that I do here in Charlotte have
a great one. Do you feel that you have everreached the point of just total acceptance
and this is what it is? Or do you think thatthere's something inside you looking at your
(31:08):
watch? Oh, I got it. It's time to take it. It'stime to say, you know, I don't 10 minutes before
and get overly worried. Do you think you'vesettled in yet? Great question. No one's ever
asked me that. I will tell you, I live by theclock. I do that. Yeah. And I have accepted
that this is what it is, but I also know thatI don't like the way I feel when I'm late taking
my medicine. And so like, for instance, I haveto set an alarm if I'm not already up, I have
(31:33):
to take my medicine at seven to the dot everymorning. And if it's the weekend and I'm happy
or lucky enough to sleep in, I will set it forseven, take my medicine and go right back to
bed. But it's set. It has to be set. And thenI have four more times throughout the day where
I take my penicillin as well. So yeah, I do.But you know, I think about what the alternative
(31:54):
is and that means just being in pain and beingsick. Yeah, no. Yeah, so don't want to shut
on anybody. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing wrongwith being so paranoid about a clock that it's
time to take something. Those are good reasonsto say all this stuff. So I think... though
(32:16):
something as I was listening to you talk, andI say, is I think you need to listen to yourself
about back in 2013, it was Donnie and you, youneeded to go learn this, but you also at the
same time, this is what I've heard, and thisis my perception, is that caring person was
back there too. And that's kind of the threadthat led you to doing what you're doing. with
(32:46):
all ability, you're doing the same thing. You'rehelping people. You wanna be aware, not just
for yourself, but there's something you needto do for yourself to satisfy something, a
need to help. But also, you don't wanna seesomeone else go through the same thing that
you did, so you're trying to make it easier.I see that there's definitely a line between
(33:10):
those things. It ties right through you. So,I don't know. I'm gonna end it on that. I agree,
I would not put that together, but you're right.Yeah, there you go. Sometimes we have to self-reflect.
And I tell you, I'm coming up on, talk aboutanniversaries, I'm coming up on 30 years after
waking up from a month-long coma to learn thatI wasn't gonna be playing soccer anymore because
(33:35):
I was now missing both hands and parts of bothfeet. I'm coming up on 30 years of being in
this situation. 30, wow. 30. Wow. Yeah, so.There are certain times and that's why I asked
you too, because I was wondering how you are,because as I'm getting more into podcasts,
I'm learning about myself too. It's my own journeyI've found now that I'm listening to other
(33:57):
people and I think I could recognize, and youand I have something similar that we've gone
through the same sort of thing. So we're gonnashift gears and start wrapping up the show.
I've got five questions for you I call the RoadTrip Roundup, and they're all related to you
and your experiences with road trips, okay?We've all been on road trips. Awesome, I love
road trips. Especially where you got kids, ohheck yeah. So, and so the first question is,
(34:23):
when you're road tripping, Asa, do you tendto do fast food or local diners? Oh wow, so
this is always a bone of contention in our house.Go for it. Okay, so we, when we travel, we
like to have one good meal. We try to anywayon the road. And that for us is Cracker Barrel.
(34:44):
because we're in the South. And my husband lovesit. And I like it because it's always consistent.
I always get the salad with grilled chickenand it's never different. It's always the same,
I can count on it. My kids are over it. Andthey're like, no, not Cracker Barrel again.
(35:05):
But you know what? Here's the thing, you'regonna get the same thing. You have an opportunity
to walk around the gift shop, which is alwaysfun, because there's always really cool stuff
to look at. True, the old candy. You find yourselfpicking up some of the candy you remember as
a kid, because they sell that stuff there. Yeah.They do, absolutely. And it's just, you get
to stretch your legs and walk around and youget the same consistency. And we love that.
(35:27):
Although the kids are like, please, no, pleasenot again. They would eat Chick-fil-A every
day of the week if we allowed it to. Once again,it's our South stuff. Oh God, you guys in the
South with your Chick-fil-A. Yes, there areChick-fil-As sporadically around Wisconsin
and in the Midwest. They're always so freakingbusy if you try to go to one. They do it right.
I will tell you though, they are doing a greatjob here in Charlotte, at least. They have
(35:52):
rebuilt these Chick-fil-As, so their drive-through.is just like the Indy 500. Oh, so they were
around for a long time. Okay. Oh, all right.It wasn't, yeah. Hey, when I've been down in
the South, Waffle House, you guys do any WaffleHouses or do you think that's just for tourists?
No, I mean, there are a lot of people that doit all the time, especially like if you're
really hungry in the middle of the night. Ohyeah, okay. But for me, that's a little too
(36:18):
much. It's too heavy for me. So I don't go therevery often. Yeah, I've just one time I went
down to did a road trip down to Florida. Oh,got to stop at a Waffle House. Did it and okay.
Been there, done that. That's okay now. Allright. Uh, question number two. Exactly. What's
your dream car for a road trip? It could besomething you had as a kid, something you had,
(36:40):
uh, once before with family, something you'dwant to have. What's your dream car for a road
trip? Could be something you could rent too.Yeah. Um, this is not exciting whatsoever.
Honestly, it's a minivan. isn't that terrible,but it is the best. I mean, come on. Let me
back up when I was a kid. My grandparents werejust adamant that we saw the country and they
(37:06):
bought this amazing huge this was okay. Thiswas early 80s to give you perspective. So it's
one of those old fans as big bands that hadlike a CB in it. And it had Like the like there's
four seats and then the back there was likea cat or wasn't a couch but it could lay down
(37:29):
and We had the best time talking to the truckdrivers in this van. I mean we Go there. Yeah
The best and then when I had my babies and wewould do road trips, especially down to Florida
Having a minivan is a lifesaver for all thatstuff you have to take. If you've got good
(37:49):
speakers, if you've got a good stereo system,because I went down there, I raised five kids.
So I understood, but when it was time to getmy dad cars, it was no, we're getting the upper
level tunes. I made darn sure that we were ableto do that. So, oh yeah. Smart. Yep. Very smart.
Okay. Yeah. So that's my not very exciting answer.No, no, no. But here's one thing I thought
(38:14):
of. If you're on the CB radio, you'd have tobe in the front passenger seat. Right? You'd
have to be up there. This is the 80s, you couldsit up front. Yeah, I know. I was gonna say
that too. And in the back, you could just layin the back, and just maybe wrestle with your
siblings. Which I did. Of course you did. Andyou probably had Cheetos laying around in the
(38:36):
back and things would get spilled and you'dyell, okay, now it's taking me back to my family.
All right, so after that, question number three,last cassette or CD that played while you're
on a road trip. Gosh, here's the thing aboutthat. When you have children, you don't get
to pick. Oh, all right, all right. So that doesn'tcount. Yeah, all right, that you wanted to
(39:01):
listen to. Let's go there. Good point. ThatI wanted to listen to. That you wanted to listen
to. So gosh, it's been a while since I've hada CD in my car. I really got into like- Yeah,
they don't make them anymore. No, and it's sosad because it was so much fun. Um, I think
probably the greatest hits I had a record rotationbetween like Fleetwood Mac journey. Uh, who
(39:24):
else was in my rotation? My arsenal. Um, thegreatest hits of Alabama, that Southern route
coming out there. So yeah, I would probablyrotate between those. Yeah. Good stuff. Now
what's, what's going to happen is you're probablygoing to, uh, look for some of those tunes
tonight, you know, and you turn on serious and.Sirius XM radio. Okay. Number four, Coke or
(39:47):
Pepsi? Oh my goodness. You don't even have toask. It's Coke my friend. You could say Dr.
Pepper since you're from the South. No, it isCoke and it will always be Coke. And in the
South, we have a funny saying that if you goto a restaurant and they say, what do you want
to drink? And you say Coke, and then they'llsay what kind, which means Coke, Diet Coke,
Sprite, you name it. That's how big fans ofCoke we are down here. Oh yeah. Oh, well, isn't
(40:12):
Coke based in Atlanta? Yes. It is. I think sowe're gonna be getting that. Okay. All right.
Last thing. I love asking this question becausewith my guests, I could just sense they're
sitting back in a chair a little bit, they relax,and they let their mind go. And the question
is, what's your favorite road trip memory? Ilove this question. Because I have so many.
(40:36):
I really do. And like I mentioned before, withmy grandparents, They traveled all over the
country and like my mom, she's been to all 50states. That was just something that was instilled
in her. And I have several, just pick a timeof my life. And I have several to choose from.
You know, the first I think would be when Iwas probably six or seven. And we took a trip
(40:57):
out West. I grew up in Tennessee. So for usto go out West was really big. It was for a
family reunion. And I remember just, we were,we were gone for almost three weeks. And that
was a huge trip. It was a lot of fun. Yeah,this is summer of, you know, early eighties.
And then, so that part was awesome. And thenwhen meeting my husband, our first trip together,
(41:20):
we went to Disney World. That was so much fun.Well, hang on a second with that. How long
were you guys going out together that one ofyou said, well, let's do Disney World. It's
not so romantic. Well, you know, if you're akid, it is, it's fun. Well, that's right. No,
I'm all for it. I mean, I've been to all ofthose. I love them as an adult. I was the one
(41:45):
that with five kids, I made six. And I wouldride, cause they usually are two a piece. So
I would always be, hell yeah, I'm gonna go dothat. Kid at heart, you bet. So I know I'm
just picking on you. Cause okay, so which one?Quick, tell me, I mean, just pick what? Throw
a dart and where does it land? And tell us aboutit. The best road trip? Yeah, just throw a
(42:08):
dart, boom, landed on that one. What'd you do?Oh gosh, I can't even do that. I'm trying to
tell you, like I've had many. You're going throughtoo many because it, no, it sounds fantastic.
No, no, no. I think it's great because you havethese experiences. And I'm trying to piece
in the back of my mind is trying to formulateyou as a person to go along with how much you
(42:32):
care about people and what you went throughwith your father and all of these things. You've
had an amazing life so far. That's really cool.It's been a wild ride. I will tell you that.
Yeah. For sure. It's been a great road trip.Yeah. Okay. Very cool. I'm not going to over
push you. So we're going to wrap it up herefor the folks, but you and I stay on for a
minute because I want to pick your brain a littlebit more. Okay. So we're just going to say
(42:54):
bye.
Thanks for listening. Check out previous episodeswith new ones dropping each Tuesday. If you
don't see a synopsis of this show where you'relistening, visit our website at Life's A Road
Trip dot podbean dot com for more informationon this week's guest. This is your host Scott
(43:17):
Martin reminding you that life's a road trip.
you
Being disabled or having a chronic illness canfeel like you're moving forward in reverse.
(00:21):
I'm your host Scott Martin. Join me and my newfriends from this underrepresented community
as we talk about disrupting the status quo andcreating change within the world and within
ourselves. Hey, life's a road trip. Hop in,let's turn on some tunes and go.
(00:56):
Ian, the passenger seated managing the radioon this road trip today is Anessa Powell. Since
being diagnosed in 2013 with Addison's disease,Anessa has been dedicated to raising awareness.
She began sharing her experiences in 2016 andlaunched her social media outreach through
the former pages of Addison's disease with grace.In 2019, her speaking platform was launched
(01:18):
and AddisonPowell.com was formed. Anessa isknown for the energy she brings when speaking
to women's groups about fostering communityover competition and her compassion in speaking
to those living with a disability. Most recently,she was offered diversity inclusion training
classes and webinars for businesses and organizationsto better serve the disability community in
(01:40):
all forms. Hi, Anessa. Hi, how are you, Scott?I'm doing well. We've got temperatures. Sue
and I, my wife were just out bopping aroundtown and running some errands and three degrees.
So central Wisconsin, it'd be cold today. We'regetting better person than me. That's why I'm
(02:01):
in the South. Yeah. Well, I was going to sayyou're, you're in Charlotte. It's such a beautiful
country. I've been over there a couple of times.I mean, wow. Yeah, we'd love it. We love the
city, we love the area. We love being threehours from the beach and two hours from the
mountains. I was gonna say, because I Googledup, all right, so this lady thinks that she
(02:22):
loves to go to the beach, but isn't Charlotteabout three hours or so from the Atlantic?
It is. How often do you get over there? Well,it's funny, and people laugh at me when I tell
them, actually, the North Carolina beach isnot my favorite. It's the Florida beach is
the Gulf. Okay. And that too. me, our family,that's what we'd love. Going down to Anna Maria
(02:46):
Island, which is near Sarasota, Bradenton area.And we do get down there at least once a year.
That's our second home. We love that. So everyday I wish I was there. Okay. And you guys,
I did come across a shot with you and your husbandand the two kids. And of course you're on White
Sandy Beach. That's where it was taken. Youname it. That's right. Yeah, okay, cool. Now.
(03:09):
Along with your husband and those two kids isyour business, AllAbility Recruiting. That's
based in Charlotte. You're the founder and CEO.Please go ahead and fill us in on AllAbility
Recruiting. Well, it's a relatively new companyand we're very excited where we are. We're
about 16 months down the road. We launched inMarch of 2022. No, 2021. That's hard to keep
(03:32):
up. Things just fly when you get older. Yes,they do. But it's been a wonderful organic
growth and ride as the name is starting to getout and people are starting to understand what
disability employment is and the awareness thatgoes along with that. But it was launched out
of a pure passion for me, just for those withdisabilities, especially those with invisible
(03:56):
disabilities such as myself, and we'll get tothat later, of just what that means when you
have. gaps in your resume and trying to getback in the workforce and people understanding
who you are. So we initially launched as a recruitmentfirm. And we quickly learned that businesses
want to do the right thing, they just weren'tquite sure where to begin. So that's where
(04:17):
we created the training piece that we offerthat there's four topics that we cover, ranging
from Disability 101 all the way to the cultureand basically the bottom line and why. people
should care about disability employment andwhat that looks like for their company. And
we've had some great success with that and alot of greater understanding of disability
(04:40):
employment and honestly what disabilities areand the way that they can present. Most people
are surprised by that, the numbers themselves.And then we'd go through these training sessions
with our clients and they would say, that wasgreat, but now what? Now where do we go? That's
where we launched the consulting piece. Andso we've had some great opportunity to say,
(05:02):
let us really look at your company's life cycle,the whole approach. We call it that soup to
nuts approach of your employee. Are you awareof when people go to apply for a job, is it
user friendly? Is it, are you on a timer? You'reautomatically alienating a particular disability
(05:23):
group when you put. a timer for someone who'stried to fill out this application. So we kind
of look at that. That's very, just a brief example.But we go through that whole thing of, okay,
you have the application to the interview, tothe onboarding. Are you supporting them once
they get in there? And through that whole thing,we look, goodness, at everything ranging from
(05:43):
accessibility from the building itself to thewebsite, and just taking a look. And that's
been really wonderful because oftentimes, businessesare quite scared and they just don't know what
to do. And they're like looking for people totrust. And that's why we feel very excited
about what our feedback has been from thosesessions with our clients and learning that.
(06:04):
So we kind of have three pillars to our, toour company and it's been going well. So is,
is one of the areas that the employers bringyou in for is that, Hey, could you check us
out and see if we're meeting the rules and regulations?for bringing in folks, not just by having numbers,
(06:25):
but also are we doing this right? Are we doingthat right? Do we have things set up so we're
not gonna be getting in trouble from any governmentagencies or anything? That's a great question.
You know, we look at it very high level andthat's where we refer people that are. a little
bit more breadth of knowledge with certain things.Accessibility is so huge right now, especially
(06:48):
for websites, because there is a component tothat where they're trying to be very mindful
of not getting fined because their website'snot accessible, which is new. And so I will
then refer, because we have a great arsenalof references that we can call on and say,
look, I need you to call my friend Lori, whoowns her accessibility company, and she can
really look at it and get into the depth ofwhat we're talking here. But I can just from
(07:12):
initially, take a look in which we do, Billand I, we just initially can say, okay, cursory
glance, yes, you need to change your font. Andno, you don't have captions on your videos.
And are you, you know, just very high levelstuff. And if they say, okay, how can we do
better? That's when we call in other peopleas well. Oh, now I get it, because that's stuff
that you wouldn't necessarily think of. Andthat's where they have you come in and evaluate.
(07:39):
So you're looking at it from not just, fromyour eyes, but your eyes as a professional
in helping guide them to look at it from theeyes of a disabled person, so everyone's happy.
Yes. Okay. Yes, and we have candidates thatwill give us feedback and say, because we have
(07:59):
candidates that are from all walks of life andfrom all disabilities, from- You name it. And
so they can say to us, look, I, you know, thisis not accessible to me or it doesn't fit through
a screen reader. So I don't know what it's saying,or just I'm visually impaired in this particular
font color. I can't see when it's on the page.So hearing the feedback from even our candidates
(08:20):
themselves give us some great perspective thatwe can then relate to our clients. I'll bet.
So I'm on the website right now. And for example,the clients come in and they... they get a
more of an idea of what they're supposed tobe doing. Of course, they're going to be reaching
out to you for you to come in and they're payingyou to give them some direction. What about
(08:40):
from the candidate's perspective? I see jobseekers and I will go in right now and I will
click on candidates, uh, job seekers. And whatcomes up is current job openings and people
can fill out a form and there's a list. Nowthese, all these jobs happen to be, I've got
to look at Concord, North Carolina, Winston-Salem.Asheville and Charlotte. So you have quite
(09:05):
a few on here. They're all North Carolina. Sowhat percentage do you think that you're set
up to help the candidates or the job seekers?And how do you think that weighs towards the
clients and the employers? Where's your focus?Great question. Yes. So when we launched the
(09:25):
company, it was one of those things, Scott,where we were like, okay, we're going to throw
this big net out and we weren't sure what wewere going to catch, right? It came from our
networks and just people that we knew locallywithin the North Carolina region. We were very
thankful for our first clients, one of thosebeing a retirement homes community. So so many
of those opportunities are from them, whichwe're so thankful for. And then we have another
(09:50):
couple of other clients on there with some otheropportunities as well. It just so happens that
we have them in the North Carolina area. Andhowever, interestingly enough, our candidates
are from all over the country that are seekingopportunities. Most of our candidates are wanting
remote work. And so we are working very hardto bring on new clients that can offer opportunities
(10:15):
across the country. We're in talks with a fewcompanies now that one of them being in California.
So we have the opportunity to fill roles wherever,um, within the country based upon the candidates
that we do have. And if, honestly, if you'relistening to this and you own a company and
you want to do that, call me, because I havesome amazing candidates out there that are
(10:37):
chomping at the bit to honestly work for a companythat truly recognizes. the gifts that they
can bring to the table. They just might needa slight accommodation. You know, I have one
candidate that she's phenomenal. Her backgroundjust blows me away. She does need to work remotely
due to some pain and some chronic issues thatshe has. And she's not great in the morning,
(11:03):
in full disclosure. That's not something thatshe's great at, working and being a strong
leader in the morning. But my goodness, by twoo'clock, she is rocking it. So if she can have
a little, you know, lead way from that and say,look, you can get your work done just as long
as you get it done. She's going to be an amazingemployee for you. And she just wants to have
the opportunity to have someone recognize that.So just have such wonderful people out there
(11:29):
that just need a chance, truly. How deep areyou getting in discussions with these folks?
Because it sounds like you're taking them allas individuals and you're pitching for them
and letting it be known. My gosh, how many hoursare you putting into this? That's exactly what
we do. Wow. Well, when we built this company,that was one thing I was very mindful of. I
(11:56):
was, I, when I said, okay, we're going to dothis. And unfortunately, recruiters get a bad
name in this, in this industry, because theyghost people quite often. And it's terrible.
I was adamant that is one thing that that weabsolutely will not do. If you send us your
(12:16):
information, because we do have a button atthe top of that website that says, see something,
you know, if you see something that doesn'tfit your background, send us your resume, you
know, something along those lines, I think itsays. So you can just send us your general
resume, even though we may not have a job postingcurrently. And we've had a lot of candidates
that do that because they're just excited, honestly,to have someone that can talk to them and speak
(12:40):
to their disability, honestly. And we do, wespeak to every single candidate if you're within
America. We've had a lot of international peoplereach out to us, unfortunately. We're not at
that capacity yet. We really would love to dointernational roles in the future. We're getting
there. But currently, if you are within Americaand you send us your information, we talk to
(13:00):
every single one. And we do treat them as anextension of our family because that's what
we believe in. We believe that you are worthy.You have a voice. And let me tell you, I have
heard the most incredible stories. And it'sjust Bill and I all the time, we hang up with
our candidates and we look at each other andwe're like, this is why we're doing what we're
doing. Because people want to feel heard andthey want to feel valued. And when you can
(13:27):
have an honest conversation with someone abouttheir disability, without any stigma, without
any judgment, I can't tell you how far thatgoes. And we always encourage our candidates
to be honest with us. and tell us how they arefeeling and tell us what accommodations they
may need, if any. And some of ours don't evenneed any. And just so I can be their voice.
(13:47):
So when I present them to a client and I say,this is this candidate that I have, the background
fits very nicely. And let me tell you how amazingthey're going to be for you. They may need
a slight accommodation, but let me tell you,if I'm already talking with this client, they
already know that might be an opportunity andthey are going to be prepared for it because
I prepared them accordingly. especially if there'ssomeone that has gone through our training
(14:11):
or through our consulting, they know how todo this. So it's, I love having the chance
to be a voice for sometimes it's always beena voice that's never been heard. This sounds
like something that is so simple. Why didn't,is it being done very, very much? It sounds,
(14:31):
duh. Is there anyone else doing this? Okay,good. will tell you, yes, there are others
out there. And I there's some that are moretechnology driven, more of a platform, but
we're definitely and you'll see that all overour website where we come from the people we
come where people driven. And that's very importantto me. I don't view our candidates as a number.
(14:54):
They are people I can look at them and talkand speak to who they are and the type of honestly,
the type of employee that they are desiringto be. So who's, how are you making your money?
Who's paying you? Is it, it's gotta be, it'sgotta be the employer. Why not? Yes. You can't
(15:17):
be doing it just for the goodness of your heart,even though you feel great every day, I know.
I mean, it's a company. I know, if only thatpaid the bills, right? Yeah. We are... We operate
very much like a traditional recruitment firm.So we get a percentage of the salary of when
we make a placement. Yes. And then we do fromour training and then our consulting as well.
But you know, the main thing here, and I say,I'm picking up is I studied you a little bit,
(15:41):
but, um, I'm pretty amazed at how much you'regiving. I could sense it from how you're speaking
that you, you give a damn. And, uh, if I hadan applause button here, I would be pressing
it. Oh, thank you. It needs to be done. Allright. Next question I have for you though
is, what's the incentive for these employersto hire disabled workers? Oh my goodness. That's
(16:08):
a great question. So, you know, when... in thisday and time, and I feel like sometimes now
this word is being over used unfortunately,but in this day and time of diversity, equity
and inclusion. Our big thing is to our clientsand to anybody that has a company that has
(16:28):
employees that when you say that you are committedto true inclusivity or true diversity or anything
along those lines, and you're not includingthe largest minority group in the world, then
you are. You are not doing that. That's somethingI learned recently, how big, since I got into
this, oh my God. And the money that supportsthat, that why people aren't respecting the
(16:58):
disabled community more, in that the money thatthe disabled community puts towards buying
products and things. So I'm learning a lot fromjust getting started in this. Yes. And I'm
so glad you are because people like you whoare doing stuff like this, like podcasts and
(17:19):
doing the information, then the word is startingto spread and people are starting to understand.
And in this time now, finally, I feel like we'refinally getting to a place where companies
are starting to take notice. And they're like,oh, okay, well maybe I should start talking
about this. And wait a minute, you mean onein four people in my company have a disability
and I don't even know it? You know, that's theaverage statistic. And for people to be able
(17:46):
to feel comfortable to disclose now and say,yes, I'm one of that one in four, it's vital
to your bottom line. Because if they don't feelvalued and this is what's happening now, people
are leaving. And companies are kind of backpedaling,like, wait a minute, what are we missing here?
Why is this happening? Well, because you haven'tcreated a culture where it's important. for
(18:06):
them to fill themselves where they feel valued.They're not going to feel like they're going
to be overlooked for a promotion because theyjust told you that they are dealing with a
particular condition, you know, you name it.So the numbers are there and the numbers show,
and this is what we tell to people is that whenyou are a company that employs people with
(18:27):
disabilities, the favorability factors throughthe roof, people will... patron of business
if they know you employ people with disabilities.I mean, I can give you certain examples throughout
the country of companies and businesses thatpeople will go to and they're like, yeah, it's
because they're awesome. They support theiremployees. They support their employers. They're,
I mean, they're workers. So yes, the time isright for people to understand and to learn
(18:52):
how to do it properly. Well, one of the thingsI will say is that the disabled community is
a very quiet community as well. And it goeswith what you were just saying. You think?
That things are changing. That's what I've noticed.Hey, I'm only doing this because I have a book
that I had two different agents not be ableto sell because every time they went to publishers,
(19:18):
the publishers would say, great story, but Scottneeds a platform. So, okay, I'm doing this.
That's open and honest. That's why I'm doingit. But I've gotten into this now so far. That
holy cow, it is a quiet community. That's whatI'm learning. As I'm talking to more people
though, it's really stirring up more insideof me to fight a little bit. I grew up in the
(19:42):
times of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King.So I'm a rah kind of guy. Hey, let's fight
for some rights. And what I'm hearing from youis, yeah, you go girl, because that's what
you're doing. Is telling people you need todo this from both sides. You're in the middle.
and you need to do it for both sides. But being,going from there, saying that you're in the
(20:05):
middle line of both sides, let's be honest about,what about discrimination? I've been discriminated
against in jobs. I used to coach college soccerat a nationally ranked program and stuff. I've
been discriminated against ever since I becamehandicap. I see it all the time. It's ridiculous.
So what, how often do you have to remind employersabout you can't be discriminating? And also
(20:30):
about, What are you hearing from potential employeesabout being discriminated against? Yeah. So
our candidates tell us these stories all thetime, which just, to your point, just fires
me up to no end because they only see the disability.They don't see the person. And, you know, I
(20:52):
have an invisible disability, so I have a littlebit different perspective, but I just, just
some of some of these stories will just breakyour heart. So that part of it just reinforces
what we do. And then from the client side, Ido have the fortune of working with some really
incredible people from our clients that arein HR, so they know the right terminology and
(21:17):
what they can ask and what they can't ask. Andso the beauty of being a recruiter, what I
do is that I can talk about their disabilityto them if I have permission from my candidate.
and really just have the opportunity to sharewho they are and just any accommodations, like
I said, that they may need. Whereas, you know,when you go in for the interview, you're not
allowed to ask about a person's disability,honestly. You're only supposed to ask about
(21:41):
the accommodations that they may need. And oftentimes,unless you mark that box, Yes, I have a disability,
those conversations are never had. But you know,there are lots of people that don't want to
disclose because of the discrimination thatthey had in the past, which is so incredibly
frustrating. And we're trying to change that,you know, one placement at a time. Yeah. I
(22:04):
want to close out talking about AllAbility.And first of all, I mentioned to the listeners
that, of course, there'll be a link to AllAbility'swebsite on the Life's a Road Trip website.
But I want to leave one thing that's on everysingle page on your website. Leave no ability
behind. And you have that trademarked. Leaveno ability behind. Bravo. I think that says,
(22:27):
I hope you're very proud about having that onthere because again, you give a damn. And someone's
got to, and it's got to start someplace. SoI know every day you probably go home and frustrated
at times, but then there are also times whenit's, you bet we did something. So that's great.
All right. Let's take a slight turn and discussyou as a speaker. And this is talking about
(22:50):
your personal website. And that link is gonnabe on the Life's a Road Trip website as well.
On there are two short videos. You're discussinga couple of topics. First of all, before I
get into that, and I say, how the heck are yougetting time to do this because you care so
much about what you're doing with AllAbility.How were you, oh yeah, that's right. And you
(23:11):
have two kids, huh? Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. Allright. I guess that might be for a personal
therapist or something on how the heck you'reable to make all of that work. But it sounds
like you're making it work. Are you doing muchspeaking? Anything on that? Or you just really
(23:33):
have to be focused on all ability? How muchare you able to get out?
That was my way of speaking about my diseaseand living with my condition and just really
spreading awareness. But also it grew into thissupport for others as to how to really manage
(23:59):
the road of diagnosis and after diagnosis andall that fun stuff that comes with that. So
when people call now to ask me to speak, it'sdefinitely for all ability recruiting and talking.
along the lines of disability inclusion andwhat that looks like. And I love that, I absolutely
do, because when I see people's faces, afterI share with them the numbers, like the one
(24:20):
in four people, and have a disability, and thenumbers globally, and what's the largest makeup
of the invisible disability population, andall of that. I love being able to speak to
that. So it's definitely morphed over the yearsas to where my path is going. Yeah, I can imagine.
(24:41):
It's like going to college with one idea andwithin the freshman year, you end up switching
your major. I've done that. I hear about itall the time. Exactly. So yeah, I mean, that's
a lot. Well, that's what life is and kind ofgoes along with the name of the show, Life's
a Road Trip. There you go. One of your shortvideos again is something you must get behind.
(25:01):
And the title of that video is Women Need aTribe. I assume that's a topic for your speaking
engagements and the in that people need to goon there and watch it. Even though it's short,
you can just tell something's inside of you,you want to just get behind this. So again,
the title of that is Women Need a Tribe. Couldyou talk about that little video, please? Sure,
(25:25):
and I know like tribe, that word is not as PCas it used to be. So please note it was not
from a place of misuse. It was just, that waslike the buzzword at the time when I filmed
that video. It's just mainly having that supportthat what that looks like. You know, when I
was diagnosed, it, it was an arduous road togetting diagnosed. But then when I finally
(25:46):
was just having that support system that I hadfrom my friends and from my family and my just
my community was so vital to me. And I thinkthe thing that just bothers me most is for
people to feel like they're alone in this world,truly. And it just, I don't want anyone to
feel like they're alone, especially if you aresomeone that is battling something or someone
(26:09):
that has, you know, just not an easy, not aneasy way to go. And it's something that I want
people to know that there are opportunitiesout there. You just have to find them to find
your community. That's great. Again, it showshow much you care. You're good. No, seriously,
you're a good person because it comes throughand everyone's gonna be hearing this and they're
(26:33):
going to get, you're a good person because youcare. The second short video is titled, uh,
but you don't look sick. Now, in that videoyou touch on your disability, which is Addison's
disease, which is a rare autoimmune disease.Tell us about Addison's please and go into
that. Sure. So I did that video, but you don'tlook sick. Cause it is very personal to me.
(26:55):
And I will say backing up though, my first introductioninto that world was my dad. My dad was in a
car crash. He was hit by a drunk driver whenI was 10 years old and sustained a traumatic
brain injury, a TBI. And that was my first introductioninto that world of look fine on the outside,
but you aren't on the inside. And my world wasforever changed that night of the accident
(27:17):
because he was never the same again. And itis not lost on me now, the irony, that I too
now have an invisible disability with Addison's.I was diagnosed 10 years ago, almost to the
date, Scott, believe it or not, with this diseaseand it's a rare autoimmune condition. So it
(27:38):
falls into two categories, the autoimmune sideand then the rare disease side. So my body
decided after the birth of my second child,my son, actually my first child, my daughter
was born, then my thyroid went out, which isautoimmune Hashimoto's. And then after my son
was born, I started developing all of theseweird symptoms and eventually was diagnosed
(28:04):
with Addison's in 2013. And that's where mybody decided to attack my adrenal glands, which
was just so much fun. Especially when you'resomeone who doesn't have a science background.
I didn't even know I had adrenal glands. Sowhen you find out they no longer work, you're
like, what is happening? But it is a rare disease.It's one in 100,000 people are diagnosed with
(28:27):
it. It's very hard to get diagnosed because,as I quickly learned after diagnosis, is that
my symptoms for so many years could mean hundredsof different things, but finally when you put
them all together, they figured it out. Andessentially my body went into crisis and I
wound up in the hospital. It took them 11 daysto finally figure out what was happening with
(28:50):
me. And it was a very scary time because I wasso sick. And they ran a thousand different
tests. And finally, finally they figured itout. And I was so very thankful to finally
have a name for my suffering for so many years.And my life was forever changed because now
with Addison's you basically take medicine whichis a steroid to live. And without that medicine,
(29:16):
it will end very quickly for me sadly. So- Whenyou are diagnosed with something rare, you
are oftentimes the only person that knows aboutit, even in a room full of medical professionals.
So I threw myself into research. I threw myselfinto educating myself, went on every board
out there on Facebook, you name it and readjust everything and soaked it up because I
(29:41):
was absolutely determined to have a full life.And I didn't know what that was gonna look
like and I didn't know how I was gonna do it,but I was determined to do it. Okay. That's
what Google is for. Yeah. Be able to researchGoogle. Oh my goodness. When you, you know,
are Googling Addison's, there's not a lot ofinformation out there. That's the sad part
too. So that's why I had to kind of really gointo the depths of certain things and just
(30:05):
figure it out. And then, and that's where thenetworking began. And that's where I started
sharing my story because I thought, you knowwhat, I don't want anybody else having to be
scared and feel like that. this is a scary diagnosisor I mean, it's definitely a life changing
one, but it shouldn't be scary for you becauseyou can live a full life. You just have to
(30:25):
learn to manage it properly. And that meanslistening to your body, taking your medication
at the right time, never missing a dose, takingmore when you are sick or injured and just,
and really working very closely with your endocrinologiston what that life means for you. And unfortunately,
not a lot of endocrinologists are aware of thisdisease understanding. They know what it is,
(30:48):
but it's, it is not something that is very common.And so you have to make sure you find someone
who's very knowledgeable about it. And I'm veryfortunate that I do here in Charlotte have
a great one. Do you feel that you have everreached the point of just total acceptance
and this is what it is? Or do you think thatthere's something inside you looking at your
(31:08):
watch? Oh, I got it. It's time to take it. It'stime to say, you know, I don't 10 minutes before
and get overly worried. Do you think you'vesettled in yet? Great question. No one's ever
asked me that. I will tell you, I live by theclock. I do that. Yeah. And I have accepted
that this is what it is, but I also know thatI don't like the way I feel when I'm late taking
my medicine. And so like, for instance, I haveto set an alarm if I'm not already up, I have
(31:33):
to take my medicine at seven to the dot everymorning. And if it's the weekend and I'm happy
or lucky enough to sleep in, I will set it forseven, take my medicine and go right back to
bed. But it's set. It has to be set. And thenI have four more times throughout the day where
I take my penicillin as well. So yeah, I do.But you know, I think about what the alternative
(31:54):
is and that means just being in pain and beingsick. Yeah, no. Yeah, so don't want to shut
on anybody. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing wrongwith being so paranoid about a clock that it's
time to take something. Those are good reasonsto say all this stuff. So I think... though
(32:16):
something as I was listening to you talk, andI say, is I think you need to listen to yourself
about back in 2013, it was Donnie and you, youneeded to go learn this, but you also at the
same time, this is what I've heard, and thisis my perception, is that caring person was
back there too. And that's kind of the threadthat led you to doing what you're doing. with
(32:46):
all ability, you're doing the same thing. You'rehelping people. You wanna be aware, not just
for yourself, but there's something you needto do for yourself to satisfy something, a
need to help. But also, you don't wanna seesomeone else go through the same thing that
you did, so you're trying to make it easier.I see that there's definitely a line between
(33:10):
those things. It ties right through you. So,I don't know. I'm gonna end it on that. I agree,
I would not put that together, but you're right.Yeah, there you go. Sometimes we have to self-reflect.
And I tell you, I'm coming up on, talk aboutanniversaries, I'm coming up on 30 years after
waking up from a month-long coma to learn thatI wasn't gonna be playing soccer anymore because
(33:35):
I was now missing both hands and parts of bothfeet. I'm coming up on 30 years of being in
this situation. 30, wow. 30. Wow. Yeah, so.There are certain times and that's why I asked
you too, because I was wondering how you are,because as I'm getting more into podcasts,
I'm learning about myself too. It's my own journeyI've found now that I'm listening to other
(33:57):
people and I think I could recognize, and youand I have something similar that we've gone
through the same sort of thing. So we're gonnashift gears and start wrapping up the show.
I've got five questions for you I call the RoadTrip Roundup, and they're all related to you
and your experiences with road trips, okay?We've all been on road trips. Awesome, I love
road trips. Especially where you got kids, ohheck yeah. So, and so the first question is,
(34:23):
when you're road tripping, Asa, do you tendto do fast food or local diners? Oh wow, so
this is always a bone of contention in our house.Go for it. Okay, so we, when we travel, we
like to have one good meal. We try to anywayon the road. And that for us is Cracker Barrel.
(34:44):
because we're in the South. And my husband lovesit. And I like it because it's always consistent.
I always get the salad with grilled chickenand it's never different. It's always the same,
I can count on it. My kids are over it. Andthey're like, no, not Cracker Barrel again.
(35:05):
But you know what? Here's the thing, you'regonna get the same thing. You have an opportunity
to walk around the gift shop, which is alwaysfun, because there's always really cool stuff
to look at. True, the old candy. You find yourselfpicking up some of the candy you remember as
a kid, because they sell that stuff there. Yeah.They do, absolutely. And it's just, you get
to stretch your legs and walk around and youget the same consistency. And we love that.
(35:27):
Although the kids are like, please, no, pleasenot again. They would eat Chick-fil-A every
day of the week if we allowed it to. Once again,it's our South stuff. Oh God, you guys in the
South with your Chick-fil-A. Yes, there areChick-fil-As sporadically around Wisconsin
and in the Midwest. They're always so freakingbusy if you try to go to one. They do it right.
I will tell you though, they are doing a greatjob here in Charlotte, at least. They have
(35:52):
rebuilt these Chick-fil-As, so their drive-through.is just like the Indy 500. Oh, so they were
around for a long time. Okay. Oh, all right.It wasn't, yeah. Hey, when I've been down in
the South, Waffle House, you guys do any WaffleHouses or do you think that's just for tourists?
No, I mean, there are a lot of people that doit all the time, especially like if you're
really hungry in the middle of the night. Ohyeah, okay. But for me, that's a little too
(36:18):
much. It's too heavy for me. So I don't go therevery often. Yeah, I've just one time I went
down to did a road trip down to Florida. Oh,got to stop at a Waffle House. Did it and okay.
Been there, done that. That's okay now. Allright. Uh, question number two. Exactly. What's
your dream car for a road trip? It could besomething you had as a kid, something you had,
(36:40):
uh, once before with family, something you'dwant to have. What's your dream car for a road
trip? Could be something you could rent too.Yeah. Um, this is not exciting whatsoever.
Honestly, it's a minivan. isn't that terrible,but it is the best. I mean, come on. Let me
back up when I was a kid. My grandparents werejust adamant that we saw the country and they
(37:06):
bought this amazing huge this was okay. Thiswas early 80s to give you perspective. So it's
one of those old fans as big bands that hadlike a CB in it. And it had Like the like there's
four seats and then the back there was likea cat or wasn't a couch but it could lay down
(37:29):
and We had the best time talking to the truckdrivers in this van. I mean we Go there. Yeah
The best and then when I had my babies and wewould do road trips, especially down to Florida
Having a minivan is a lifesaver for all thatstuff you have to take. If you've got good
(37:49):
speakers, if you've got a good stereo system,because I went down there, I raised five kids.
So I understood, but when it was time to getmy dad cars, it was no, we're getting the upper
level tunes. I made darn sure that we were ableto do that. So, oh yeah. Smart. Yep. Very smart.
Okay. Yeah. So that's my not very exciting answer.No, no, no. But here's one thing I thought
(38:14):
of. If you're on the CB radio, you'd have tobe in the front passenger seat. Right? You'd
have to be up there. This is the 80s, you couldsit up front. Yeah, I know. I was gonna say
that too. And in the back, you could just layin the back, and just maybe wrestle with your
siblings. Which I did. Of course you did. Andyou probably had Cheetos laying around in the
(38:36):
back and things would get spilled and you'dyell, okay, now it's taking me back to my family.
All right, so after that, question number three,last cassette or CD that played while you're
on a road trip. Gosh, here's the thing aboutthat. When you have children, you don't get
to pick. Oh, all right, all right. So that doesn'tcount. Yeah, all right, that you wanted to
(39:01):
listen to. Let's go there. Good point. ThatI wanted to listen to. That you wanted to listen
to. So gosh, it's been a while since I've hada CD in my car. I really got into like- Yeah,
they don't make them anymore. No, and it's sosad because it was so much fun. Um, I think
probably the greatest hits I had a record rotationbetween like Fleetwood Mac journey. Uh, who
(39:24):
else was in my rotation? My arsenal. Um, thegreatest hits of Alabama, that Southern route
coming out there. So yeah, I would probablyrotate between those. Yeah. Good stuff. Now
what's, what's going to happen is you're probablygoing to, uh, look for some of those tunes
tonight, you know, and you turn on serious and.Sirius XM radio. Okay. Number four, Coke or
(39:47):
Pepsi? Oh my goodness. You don't even have toask. It's Coke my friend. You could say Dr.
Pepper since you're from the South. No, it isCoke and it will always be Coke. And in the
South, we have a funny saying that if you goto a restaurant and they say, what do you want
to drink? And you say Coke, and then they'llsay what kind, which means Coke, Diet Coke,
Sprite, you name it. That's how big fans ofCoke we are down here. Oh yeah. Oh, well, isn't
(40:12):
Coke based in Atlanta? Yes. It is. I think sowe're gonna be getting that. Okay. All right.
Last thing. I love asking this question becausewith my guests, I could just sense they're
sitting back in a chair a little bit, they relax,and they let their mind go. And the question
is, what's your favorite road trip memory? Ilove this question. Because I have so many.
(40:36):
I really do. And like I mentioned before, withmy grandparents, They traveled all over the
country and like my mom, she's been to all 50states. That was just something that was instilled
in her. And I have several, just pick a timeof my life. And I have several to choose from.
You know, the first I think would be when Iwas probably six or seven. And we took a trip
(40:57):
out West. I grew up in Tennessee. So for usto go out West was really big. It was for a
family reunion. And I remember just, we were,we were gone for almost three weeks. And that
was a huge trip. It was a lot of fun. Yeah,this is summer of, you know, early eighties.
And then, so that part was awesome. And thenwhen meeting my husband, our first trip together,
(41:20):
we went to Disney World. That was so much fun.Well, hang on a second with that. How long
were you guys going out together that one ofyou said, well, let's do Disney World. It's
not so romantic. Well, you know, if you're akid, it is, it's fun. Well, that's right. No,
I'm all for it. I mean, I've been to all ofthose. I love them as an adult. I was the one
(41:45):
that with five kids, I made six. And I wouldride, cause they usually are two a piece. So
I would always be, hell yeah, I'm gonna go dothat. Kid at heart, you bet. So I know I'm
just picking on you. Cause okay, so which one?Quick, tell me, I mean, just pick what? Throw
a dart and where does it land? And tell us aboutit. The best road trip? Yeah, just throw a
(42:08):
dart, boom, landed on that one. What'd you do?Oh gosh, I can't even do that. I'm trying to
tell you, like I've had many. You're going throughtoo many because it, no, it sounds fantastic.
No, no, no. I think it's great because you havethese experiences. And I'm trying to piece
in the back of my mind is trying to formulateyou as a person to go along with how much you
(42:32):
care about people and what you went throughwith your father and all of these things. You've
had an amazing life so far. That's really cool.It's been a wild ride. I will tell you that.
Yeah. For sure. It's been a great road trip.Yeah. Okay. Very cool. I'm not going to over
push you. So we're going to wrap it up herefor the folks, but you and I stay on for a
minute because I want to pick your brain a littlebit more. Okay. So we're just going to say
(42:54):
bye.
Thanks for listening. Check out previous episodeswith new ones dropping each Tuesday. If you
don't see a synopsis of this show where you'relistening, visit our website at Life's A Road
Trip dot podbean dot com for more informationon this week's guest. This is your host Scott
(43:17):
Martin reminding you that life's a road trip.
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